STOCK MARKET NEWS

OMCs raise furnace oil price by Rs 737 per ton   Furnace oil price has gone up by Rs. 737 per ton from Rs. 27,415.44 to Rs 28,152.44 per ton due to rising demand and low supply. Furnace oil is a high margin product for OMCs and commands over a significant potion of their sales volumes. This rise in furnace oil prices will have a positive impact on the revenues of OMC who are already struggling on account of rising debt and inventory losses.     Rs 75 billion TFC for Pepco planned   Rising circular debt has engulfed the private sector power companies as well, hindering their power generation capacity. These public sector power companies have developed large payable amounts to IPPs, who in turn owe money to their fuel suppliers. To reduce the magnitude of this circular debt, Pepco will float TFC's of Rs75b as part of its strategy to settle Rs160b. The TFC for three to four years is expected to be launched this week. The MoF officials say that the TFC will bail PSO out of circular debts, as all its debts will be shifted to Pepco. The government has decided to pay 50% of circular debt by the end of this month and remaining outstanding payment will be made by June 2009. This would ease cash flow problems for OMCs and IPPs, as well as reduce their finance cost.   PPIB receives 10 bids for 1,191MW power generation   The project, which will be implemented by the end of this year, requires investment in tune of $1.42 bn. The encouraging response by investor reflects the attractiveness of the power sector which is currently facing demand-supply mismatches. This was in continuation of the 'Fast Track Private Power Projects' initiative of the government. The initial phase of the process has already resulted in project solicitations of 780 MW of rentals expected to come on line by the end of this year. A fast track independent power producer (IPP) of 172 MW is expected by mid 2010, while three other IPP proposals of 964 MW are under evaluation, which are expected to be commissioned in 2010/11.