ISLAMABAD: Heads of Agreement about Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project is likely to be signed on March 16, Inter-State Gas Company Managing Director Naeed Sharafat told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum Wednesday. Sheikh Waqas Akram chaired the meeting. The committee was told that there was complete agreement on four of the five-point agreement about the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline pact. On this occasion, committee member Hanif Abbasi said that he would himself get a case registered against the Sui Gas officials if people grievances about gas bills were not addressed. He said that people were paying Rs19.73 per litre oil as tax but nothing was being charged from the Nato for delivery of oil.

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Wednesday witnessed mixed trend after a few bullish sessions as KSE-100 Index inches down by 2 points to close at 9,785. Investors opted for profit taking today after the bull-run seen by the share market in the past few days. However, buying in cement and banking sectors stopped the market from a steep slide. The trade volume stood at 127.8 million shares. On the other hand, KSE-30 Index gained 4 points to finish the day at 10,262.

KARACHI: In February, overseas Pakistanis sent home $588.8 million, down 8.2% from a year earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement Wednesday. Pakistanis living overseas sent home about $5.78 billion in the July-February period, up nearly 18% from a year earlier, the statement said. The monthly average remittances for the July-February period rose to $723.3 million from $614.8 million, the central bank said.

KARACHI: The production of oil refineries witnessed a decline of 8.6 per cent in the current financial year whereas the production picked up in the month of January. According to figures released by oil industry, the average production capacity of oil refineries remained limited to 61 per cent in the current fiscal. Attock Refinery utilized 76 per cent of its production capacity; Pakistan Refineries 44 per cent; National Refinery 64 per cent and; Bosicor Refinery 46 per cent.

LONDON: World oil prices dipped on Wednesday before publication of a closely-watched report on energy inventories in the United States, the world''s biggest energy consuming nation. New York''s main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, dropped 12 cents to 81.37 dollars a barrel. London''s Brent North Sea crude for April delivery eased seven cents to stand at 79.84 dollars per barrel. Analysts said trading was volatile as investors waited for signs of firmer demand in the United States after an industry report showed a surprise build-up of crude stocks indicating weaker demand. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that US crude stockpiles for the week ended March 5 rose 6.5 million barrels. Analysts polled by Platts had anticipated an increase of 2.1 million barrels. "The API reported quite bearish results yesterday. The crude build-up was larger than expected," said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst with ANZ bank. She said the focus would now be on a report by the US Department of Energy on oil inventories to be released later Wednesday for indications on energy demand. "The market currently lacks direction and has been moving in a narrow range between 80 and 82 dollars," said Ken Hasegawa, manager for energy risk at Newedge Japan brokerage in Tokyo. Oil also fell in value on Tuesday, under pressure from a stronger greenback, which makes dollar-priced crude more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies -- and tends to weigh on demand.

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) bought back 22.70 billion rupees ($268.51 million) of treasury bills and government bonds on Wedneday in 3-day reverse-repo contracts at 12.04 percent to inject funds into the money market.

PESHAWAR: NWFP government has made its mind to purchase 300,000 tonnes wheat directly from the cultivators. The Director of NWFP Food Department Abdul Ghafoor Baig told Geo news the purchase will be made in April after the growth of new wheat crop. Earlier, the NWFP government would purchase wheat from the government of Punjab, which cost us too much, he told media. The decision was made to save approximately 2 billion rupees, he noted. “NWFP government bought 90,000 tonnes wheat last year while that amount has been tripled this year in order to minimize people’s sufferings in availability of flour at cheap prices”, he added.

SINGAPORE: Oil prices hovered above $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed mixed evidence about U.S. crude demand. Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 5 cents to $81.54 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 38 cents to settle at $81.49 on Tuesday. Oil has jumped about 17 percent since early last month on increased investor confidence in this year''s global economic growth. But crude demand from the U.S., the world''s largest consumer of oil, has remained sluggish. Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. However, inventories of gasoline and distillates fell more than analysts expected, the media said. The Energy Department''s Energy Information Administration is scheduled to announce its supply report later Wednesday. In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 0.44 cent to $2.0942 a gallon, and gasoline gained 0.83 cent to $2.2686 a gallon. Natural gas was down 1.1 cents at $4.505 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was up 9 cents at $80.00 on the ICE futures exchange.

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange''s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended up at a near two-week closing high on buying by foreign investors, which boosted local investor confidence, dealers said. KSE index rose 46.84 points, or 0.48 percent, to end at 9,787.03 points on turnover of 178.74 million shares. The index ended at 9,823.57 points on Feb. 23.

SYDNEY: Oil and higher-yielding currencies shrank from multi-week highs on Tuesday and Asian stocks drifted lower as investors paused in their recent chase for riskier assets. Investors appeared to be searching for reasons to stump up more money as a buoyant mood the previous day wore off, and some traders said this was an opportunity to take profits. The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan slipped 0.3 percent, after having hit its highest level in over six weeks on Monday, lifted by encouraging U.S. economic data last week. Commodity markets were also subdued. Oil prices fell 0.5 percent, off Monday''s eight-week highs, as investors awaited industry data expected to show another rise in U.S. crude inventories. In Tokyo, the Nikkei stock average was flat, having also hit six-week highs the previous day. "We may be close to a short-term peak right now," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. "Given a lack of reasons to really push the Nikkei higher and the fact that it rose over 200 points yesterday, this is a good level for a bit of profit-taking." Price performances for the year suggest investors remain cautious and somewhat wary of riskier assets even as a global recovery appears to slowly gather steam. The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan is down 0.7 percent so far this year. Likewise, the Australian dollar, an investor favorite among riskier, higher-yielding currencies, currencies, is up just 1.3 percent. In contrast, safe-haven assets such as the yen and gold are up 3.1 percent, and 2.5 percent respectively. Yet for the rest of 2010, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch argues the risk is for equity prices to be surprisingly strong. Noting that Tuesday is the one-year anniversary of the SP 500''s 13-year closing low, and that the index has rallied almost 70 percent since, the bank argued that history shows stock prices continue to climb in the second year after a bear market. "Only once was ''year two'' a year of negative return," it said, referring to the early 1930s bear market. It said the average gain in the first year of recovery is 46 percent, followed by 9 percent in the second year. The pull-back on Tuesday benefited the U.S. dollar and yen, which are favored as "safer" investments in the currency market. The U.S. dollar index edged up to 80.500, with resistance lurking around its February high of 81.34. The yen was firm against the U.S. dollar at 90.02. The euro, still plagued by concerns about Greece''s fiscal crisis, drifted lower to $1.3616. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou tried again on Monday to contain the crisis and shore up support for Greece. He urged the Group of 20 nations to go after market speculators, who he blamed for raising Greece''s borrowing costs by betting the country may default on its debts.