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BOC Bangladesh Ltd, Atlas Bangladesh, Lafarge Surma Cement and Southeast Bank Ltd ranked the best performing companies in the Dhaka Stock Exchange rating in four different criteria.
   They topped the lists of 10 companies drawn from each of the four categories measured respectively by dividend
   distribution, earning per share, market capitalisation and turnover of share transaction, says DSE in its year-end review of performance of the listed companies in 2004.
   The premier bourse recently published the special annual edition that analysed the stock market functions as well as all the listed companies’ performance during 2004.
   It shows that BOC Bangladesh distributed 200 per cent dividend for 2003, followed by Atlas Bangladesh and Bata Shoe Bangladesh Ltd each distributing more than 100 per cent.
   British American Tobacco and Square Pharmaceuticals became fourth and fifth respectively in this category.
   In terms of earning per share, Atlas Bangladesh, a state-owned engineering enterprise, placed top, with earning per share closing at 295 per cent at the end of 2004.
   Another state-owned company, National Tubes, positioned second followed by Bata Shoe Bangladesh Ltd and Square Pharmaceuticals with earning per share of each of the companies reaching over 200 per cent.
   Share of the Southeast Bank Ltd saw the highest transaction in terms of value with yearly turnover amounting to Tk 314.66 crore. Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Square Pharmaceuticals and Mercantile Bank Ltd placed second, third and fourth respectively.
   Lafarge Surma Cement was picked up as the market capitalisation leader at the premier bourse as it accounted for Tk 2,034 crore of the total market capitalisation in 2004. Square Pharmaceuticals and Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd were the second and third largest companies respectively in terms of market capitalisation.

Three general managers of state-owned banks were removed Monday on completion of their 25 years in services, official sources said.
   They are: Abdul Malek of Sonali Bank, Farid Uddin of Janata Bank and Kazi Aziz Arshad of Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
   The finance ministry sent the removal orders to the head offices of the banks concerned.
   Banking sources, however, suspected that they might have been removed due to their alleged political link with the previous government.

US dollar gained further against taka as the exchange rate in the inter-bank foreign exchange market jumped to Tk 63.43 on Monday.
   However, quoted exchange rates between nationalised and private commercial banks continued to maintain a wider spread in the market.
   Private commercial banks quoted Tk63.50 and Tk63.70 for selling the greenback to the importers while quoted rates
   of nationalised commercial banks averaged Tk60.89.
   For export and remittance, private banks purchased dollar at rates ranging between Tk62.20 and Tk62.40 while NCBs offered Tk59.95.
   On Thursday, NCBs revised the exchange rate against dollar upward by Tk One in a bid to narrow the gaps with rates offered by private commercial banks.
   The move followed a central bank instruction asking the state-owned banks to reduce the wide difference between the exchange rates offered by nationalised and private banks seen for the last few weeks, banking sources said.
   Inter-bank money market was stable on Monday with overnight borrowing rate, known as call rate, dipping to 10 per cent.
   In most of the dealings, interest rates ranged between 6 and 8 per cent reflecting lower demand of cash.
   The inter-bank money market was volatile during the previous week mainly due to post-Eid adjustment pressure coupled with low deposits.

World oil prices fell strongly on Monday after OPEC had maintained its current production levels and Iraq was spared any pipeline attacks during landmark elections, dealers said.
   New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March slid 73 cents to 46.45 dollars a barrel in electronic deals.
   In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in March plunged 90 cents to 44.05 dollars a barrel.
   Traders were reassured by a decision Sunday by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna to maintain output levels at 27 million barrels per day.
   ‘We are seeing the market fall back,’ Fimat analyst Mark Head said.
   ‘The news is out of the way (about OPEC).’
   Energy Information Centre analyst Veronica Smart said that crude prices would probably ‘come down further’ this week, trading between 43 and 45 dollars in London, on predicted warmer weather in the United States’ northeast region, a major consumer of heating oil.
   Meanwhile by OPEC maintaining output, Smart said the cartel could justify cutting production at its next meeting in March, should prices start to crash as spring approaches in the northern hemisphere.
   OPEC decided at a meeting in Vienna to keep oil production steady in the face of increased cold weather demand during the northern winter but also hinted that high prices for crude were here to stay and that it may cut output soon.
   The cartel added that due to an expected seasonal fall in crude demand in the second quarter, when spring comes in the northern hemisphere, OPEC would hold consultations among members before its next meeting in Isfahan, Iran, on March 16 ‘to ensure that a timely cut (in production) could be made, as appropriate’.
   OPEC’s meeting Sunday had coincided with Iraq’s first free election in half a century.
   At least 38 civilians as well as members of the US and Iraqi security forces were killed during the vote and in the hours after, but oil facilities were not targeted by insurgents.
   ‘No oil export infrastructure was attacked so oil output from Iraq continues,’ said Victor Shum, an analyst at energy consulting firm Purvin and Gertz.
   Smart said it would be interesting to see whether a period of stability in Iraq brought ‘some price easing’.

US consumer spending advanced solidly in December as personal income shot up a record 3.7 per cent on a big dividend payout by software giant Microsoft Corp., a government report showed on Monday.
   Stripping out the impact of the Microsoft dividend payment, personal income was up a more trend-like 0.6 per cent, the Commerce Department report showed.
   Consumer spending climbed 0.8 per cent in December and was up 0.9 per cent when factoring in a small drop in prices.
   The department said the price index for consumer spending, the inflation measure favored by policy-makers at the Federal Reserve, declined 0.1 per cent and was unchanged when volatile food and energy prices were stripped out.
   Wall Street economists, who had expected personal income to rise 3 per cent with spending up 0.9 per cent, said the report suggested consumer spending would continue to support a solid economic expansion.
   “Consumers had some fire going into 2005, and that should keep the economy going,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
   Prices for U.S. bonds were little changed in the wake of the data, while the dollar edged down against the euro and yen.
   The Microsoft payout also drove disposable income up sharply since individuals were unlikely to pay taxes on their dividends until this year. After-tax income rose by a record 4 per cent in December, the department said. When adjusted for inflation, the gain was 4.2 per cent, also a record.
   The department estimated roughly three-quarters of the $32 billion dividend payment Microsoft counted as personal income and said the payout pushed income up by $24.8 billion.
   Wages, which compromise the bulk of personal income, advanced 0.4 per cent in December.
   The Microsoft dividend pushed the saving rate, the amount of disposable income consumers squirrel away, up sharply to 3.4 per cent, the largest since September 2001, when shell-shocked consumers retrenched. Economists said the relatively elevated December saving rate would prove to be a one-off event.

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world’s largest publicy-traded oil company, said Monday it earned a record $8.42 billion in the fourth quarter and $25.33 billion for all of 2004, as higher prices for oil and natural gas erased a slight decline in production.
   Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, just missed $300 billion in sales for the year.
   The company said it earned $1.30 per share in the October-December period, compared to $6.65 billion, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier.
   Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast a profit of $1.07 per share. Revenue was $83.36 billion, compared to $65.95 billion a year ago.
   The Irving-based oil giant made more in both major ends of its business, the exploration and production of oil and gas, and the refining and selling of finished products.
   The impact of the high prices for oil and gas could be seen in the increase in profits despite a 1 per cent decline in production of oil and a 2 per cent drop in gas production.
   Chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond said the company “continued its active investment program” in the fourth quarter, spending $4.23 billion on capital and exploration projects. That, however, was a decline from $4.36 billion a year earlier.
   The full-year earnings amounted to $3.89 per share, compared to $21.51 billion or $3.23 per share in 2003.

Tourism ministers, officials and experts gathered Monday on the tsunami-hit Thai island of Phuket to hash out a response to the worst natural disaster to hit the global tourism industry.
   The secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation, which organised the event attended by 30 countries and a slew of international agencies, called for rapid assistance to tsunami-affected countries.
   Francesco Frangialli said that while the industry had responded to repeated blows since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, last month’s tsunamis which left more than 283,000 dead, were in another league.
   ‘It’s an event of exceptional magnitude. In fact, in the history of world tourism, it’s the most important disaster that we’ve ever had, if we take into consideration the number of victims among tourists and people working in the industry,’ Frangialli said.
   ‘But on the other hand, this takes place in the context of rapid growth in the sector,’ he said, reflecting a widely held view that tourism would be resilient and quickly bounce back despite the tragedy.
   As a region, Southeast Asian nations generated 27.7 billion dollars in 2002 from tourism, with the ASEAN Tourism Association projecting arrivals to reach 50 million this year and surge to 56 million in 2006.
   Harsh Varma, the World Tourism Organization’s chief of technical cooperation, said the meeting needed to draft ‘practical, efficient and time-bound specific actions and outputs for affected destinations’.
   ‘This is not an ordinary crisis and this is not an ordinary meeting. The livelihoods of thousands of people depends on this industry. In fact, it is their future that is at stake here,’ he said.
   ‘Therefore, our action plan must not be limited to short-term activity... It must be sharp, focused and cover a range of strategies.’
   Thailand requested that the meeting be held on the palm- fringed island of Phuket, which suffered damage to some beaches, to highlight that most resorts remain operational here, although occupancy rates have plunged.
   According to figures from the Pacific Asia Travel Association, 283 hotels out of 6,639 in the kingdom were affected by the tsunamis.

China should step up efforts to develop market-oriented reforms, including launching market makers and currency derivatives, to help make the yuan more flexible, the Finance News said Monday, quoting an economist.
   However, Zhong Wei, head of the financial research centre at Beijing Normal University, was quoted saying: ‘There cannot be a timetable for such reforms in advance.’
   The United States and others have pressed Beijing to allow the yuan, pegged near 8.28 to the dollar, to move more freely, saying it is being kept artificially low, making Chinese goods unfairly cheap on world markets.
   But senior Chinese officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos said on Saturday China would not rush to reform the exchange rate regime, dashing hopes of a breakthrough on currency issues at the Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting starting on Friday in London.
   ‘Our reforms should touch on every aspect of the foreign exchange market if we are to compare it with matured international currency markets,’ he said.
   Key reforms would include introducing market makers on the national foreign exchange market, which would be crucial for bringing about a flexible spot exchange rate, and forward trading to reflect the yuan’s future trends, Zhong said.
   China was expected to enjoy surpluses on its current account and capital account this year, Zhong was quoted as saying.
   Local media have reported that the government may let its Big Four state banks — Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China — become market makers in U.S. dollar trading.
   Analysts say that would help ease pressure on the central bank, the main buyer of foreign currency, as it seeks to keep the yuan stable through intervention. Currency derivatives would help domestic firms hedge against exchange rate risk.
   China’s foreign currency reserves rose more than $200 billion last year to $610 billion, driven by a trade surplus of $32 billion and nearly $61 billion in foreign investment and inflows of speculative money anticipating a yuan revaluation.
   China has taken a series of steps to spur capital outflows, including allowing travellers to take out more hard currency and firms to invest more abroad, to help take the heat off the yuan.

Iran will not import sugar in the year to March 2006 in a bid to support local farmers and sugar factories, state television quoted a commerce ministry official as saying Sunday.
    ‘The government has decided to stop sugar imports next year and regulate its distribution in the market in order to support farmers and factories,’ Deputy Commerce Minister Mojtaba Ansari was quoted as saying.
   The Iranian calendar year starts on March 21.
   Iran is expected to produce 1.4 million tonnes of sugar in the year to March 2005. Domestic consumption in the same period is predicted to reach 1.8 million tonnes.
   Iran had envisioned imports of 400,000 tonnes of sugar this year to fill the gap, but local factories asked the government to buy the same amount from what is piled up in their stocks from last year.
   Smuggled sugar, which industry sources say comes from Iran’s western borders with Iraq, has left 400,000 tonnes of local production from last year in storage.
   Iran’s Government Trading Company (GTC) in December imported 40,000 tonnes of sugar despite earlier comments that it did not need imports.
   But Ansari, who also heads the GTC, mentioned a government ratification this time for not importing sugar in the year to March 2006 and buying more local production instead.
   Iran’s local production is twice as expensive as imports, but the government said it was ready to buy locally to support the sugar industry if funds were allocated for this purpose.
   Iran’s ministry of agriculture has drafted a 10-year plan to increase sugar production to 2.3 million tonnes a year by 2015.
   Formerly a major wheat importer, Iran this year celebrated self-sufficiency in the grain, marking the first time in 40 years it would not need imports. The country has similar plans to meet demand by local production for corn, rice and oil seeds.

India’s soymeal exports, subdued because of soft world prices, could pick up in the coming weeks with domestic soybean prices easing, industry officials said today.
   The United States and countries in South America have been aggressively marketing soymeal this year while Indian farmers, who got good prices last year have been holding back soybean sales awaiting a rise in domestic prices.
   ‘Indian soybean prices had been propped up to artificial levels,’ said Atul Chaturvedi, president of Adani Exports Ltd. ‘Last week was the first time when prices crashed by $10 a tonne in the domestic market.’

The US occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found.
   The US officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those
   offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred between October 2003 and June 2004, according to an audit by a special US inspector general.
   The findings were released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Bowen issued several reports on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US occupation government that ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004.
   The official who led the CPA, L. Paul Bremer III, submitted a blistering, written reply to the findings, saying the report had ‘many misconceptions and inaccuracies,’ and lacked professional judgment.
   Bremer complained the report ‘assumes that Western-style budgeting and accounting procedures could be immediately and fully implemented in the midst of a war.’
   The inspector general said the occupying agency disbursed $8.8 billion to Iraqi ministries ‘without assurance the moneys were properly accounted for.’
   US officials, the report said, ‘did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial and contractural controls.’ There was no way to verify that the money was used for its intended purposes of financing humanitarian needs, economic reconstruction, repair of facilities, disarmament and civil administration.
   Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Sunday the authority was hamstrung by ‘extraordinary conditions’ under which it worked throughout its mission.
   ‘We simply disagree with the audit’s conclusion that the CPA provided less than adequate controls,’ Whitman said.
   Turning over the money ‘was in keeping with the CPA’s responsibility to transfer these funds and administrative responsibilities to the Iraqi ministries as an essential part of restoring Iraqi governance.’
   The inspector general cited an International Monetary Fund assessment in October, 2003 on the poor state of Iraqi government offices. The assessment found ministries suffered from staff shortages, poor security, disruptions in communications, damage and looting of government buildings, and lack of financial policies.
   Some of the transferred funds may have paid ‘ghost’ employees, the inspector general found.
   CPA staff learned that 8,206 guards were on the payroll at one ministry, but only 602 could be accounted for, the report said. At another ministry, US officials found 1,417 guards on the payroll but could only confirm 642.
   When staff members of the US occupation government recommended that payrolls be verified before salary payments, CPA financial officials ‘stated the CPA would rather overpay salaries than risk not paying employees and inciting violence,’ the inspector general said.
   Bremer attacked many of the specific findings. Among his rebuttal points:
   _With more than a million Iraqi families depending on government salaries, there would have been an increased security threat if civil servants had not been paid until modern pay records were developed.
   _US policy was to build up the Iraqi force guarding government facilities, and it was better to accept an imperfect payroll system than ‘to stop paying armed young men’ providing security.
   _The report was suggesting the CPA ‘should have placed hundreds of CPA auditors’ in Iraqi ministries, contrary to United States and United Nations policy of giving Iraqi ministers responsibility for their budgets.
   _The CPA established a program review board, an independent judiciary and inspector generals in each agency to fight corruption.
   The inspector general’s report rejected Bremer’s criticism. It concluded that despite the war, ‘We believe the CPA management of Iraq’s national budget process and oversight of Iraqi funds was burdened by severe inefficiencies and poor management.’

Arabic media channel Al Jazeera has been voted the world’s fifth most influential brand in a poll of branding professionals that gave the top slot to US iPod and computer icon Apple.
   In the survey of almost 2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine Brandchannel, Apple ousted search engine Google from last year’s top spot, but the surprise to many will be Al Jazeera’s entry into the top five.
   ‘With all the news from Iraq and Afghanistan and the ‘war on terror’, a lot of people are really tuned into the news, and the major news sources have a western bias,’ Brandchannel Editor Robin Rusch said.
   ‘I think people are tuning in to Al Jazeera and looking at its Web Site because it does offer another viewpoint. For the global community, it’s one of the few points of access we have to news from the region with a different perspective.’
   The annual survey asks respondents to rate the impact of a particular brand on people’s lives, and does not attempt to quantify its financial value.
   Coca-Cola, the US soft drinks behemoth that regularly tops polls of brand equity value, is nowhere to be found in this year’s global or regional top five lists.
   Rusch recognizes the professional nature of the magazine’s sample can affect the results of the survey, but nonetheless the Al Jazeera brand now ranks in terms of impact alongside giants such as Nokia and Starbucks.
   Apple, whose iPod has replaced Sony’s Walkman as the personal media player to be seen with, topped both the global and North American rankings in the poll, displacing Google despite the splash caused by the search engine’s $1.7 billion auction-style initial public offering last year.
   Apple, which launched the iPod three years ago, has sold 10 million of them, but the fact that almost half of these were moved in the final quarter of 2004 suggests an avalanche in demand.
   ‘Apple’s just done an extraordinary job with innovation, technology and design. The iPod is what has put Apple in the lead this year,’ Rusch said.
   ‘Sony has had less luck tying together its products as a lifestyle. From a branding perspective, they haven’t caught up with Apple’s design and ability to capture the imagination.’
   Swedish furniture chain Ikea, whose global network now extends to 35 countries, takes third place in the global ranking, while ubiquitous coffee chain Starbucks just shades Al Jazeera in the brand-impact stakes.
   Ikea’s high ranking reflects its gradual global expansion—people who have in the past only been able to read about the flat-pack furnisher can now experience the joy of cheap home-assembled wardrobes for themselves.
   An interesting entry into the Asia-Pacific regional list is Australian guidebook publisher Lonely Planet, which comes in at number five. But Rusch said it could have a trying time this year as it scrambles to rewrite the Asian regional and country guides on which it built its reputation.

US worker salaries are growing much more slowly than inflation, raising concerns about consumers’ ability to repay loans and credit cards bills at a time when borrowing is near all-time highs.
   Just as Americans have begun receiving hefty statements for their holiday purchases in the mail, the government reported on Friday that wages rose a meager an 2.5 per cent over the past year—the smallest increase on record.
   Stacked against a 3.3 per cent overall increase in prices for the year, the data paints an ugly picture of debt-burdened, cash-strapped American consumers struggling to make ends meet.
   Overall employee compensation is actually climbing considerably, but the bulk of the increase comes from sky-high health care costs.
   ‘The cost of hiring workers is rising but the wage income of workers is not keeping up with inflation,’ said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. ‘As workers become more expensive, companies will hire fewer of them.’
   So not only are working families being pressured, but those who are unemployed — 8 million of them by conservative estimates—are still having a difficult time finding work.
   For those at the low end of the income spectrum, the story only gets worse. The government’s tally of total wage gains masks the fact that lower-paid workers are getting even smaller pay raises than the population as a whole.
   Americans making less than $21,000 a year, predominantly minorities in urban centers
   but also whites in rural towns, actually got paid 1.7 per cent less in 2004 than the year before.
   This leaves the most vulnerable sector of society wide open to the threat of financial insolvency—a technical term for being dirt broke—as easy credit at loan-shark rates grows unchecked within those communities, analysts said.
   ‘Workers at the middle and the low end are taking more of the brunt of these wage losses,’ said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
   ‘It means that any gains in family income for these families has to come from working more hours, and in a labor market that’s not creating new jobs, sometimes those hours are nowhere to be found,’ he said.
   All this comes at a time when Americans are deeper in debt than ever before. Between credit cards, students loans, auto financing and mortgages, the total debt of American households exceeds $10 trillion dollars. That amounts to well over 90 per cent of yearly national economic output.
   As wages stay put, Americans have become increasingly reliant on credit cards to fuel their spending. Many homeowners have used their home as an ATM machine, tapping the equity in their property to pay off their debts. The potential consequences are dire, some fear.
   ‘If home values bust, many of these homeowners will be devastated,’ argues a report released this month by Demos, a public policy organization.
   Meanwhile interest rates are starting to move higher, which will make it all the more difficult for the average Joe to stay on top of his personal balance sheet. A further spike in credit card rates, which are already prohibitively high, might push some financially troubled consumers over the edge.
   Not that the overall economy is faring so poorly. During 2004, US gross domestic product—the broadest measure of economic performance—expanded at a robust 4.4 per cent rate.
   But apparently, say analysts, this windfall has failed to trickle down to most of the middle-class, not to mention poor Americans.
   ‘You just have to look at corporate profits to see where the benefits of improved growth have flowed—straight through to the business bottom line,’ said Nigel Gault, US economist at Global Insight.

Japanese electronics giant Toshiba said it was lowering its sales and profits forecast for the year to March in the face of pricing pressures in the semiconductor market even as it reported continued profits for the nine months to December.
   Toshiba’s decision to downgrade the outlook matches similar moves by other Japanese hi-tech icons such as NEC and Sony, and generally reflects the slower and more difficult environment expected this year.
   The company said it posted a net profit of 10 billion yen (96 million dollars) in the nine months to December compared with a net loss of 41.4 billion yen a year earlier. Pretax profit hit 26.4 billion yen after a loss of 8.2 billion yen as sales rose 5.6 per cent to 4.2 trillion yen.
   The downgrade from forecasts made in October ‘primarily reflects faster-than-anticipated price erosion in semiconductors due to rapid change in the digital consumer market,’ Toshiba Corp. said in a statement.
   For the year to March, Toshiba forecast net profit at 45 billion yen, down from the 50 billion yen projected earlier, pretax profit at 110 billion yen, down from 130 billion yen, and sales at 5.86 trillion yen, down from 5.87 trillion yen.
   ‘Digital products, electronics devices and social infrastructure all reported significant improvement in operating income or loss, while home appliances saw a slight widening in operating loss,’ Toshiba said.
   The social infrastructure business includes making devices for power plants, medical systems and IT solutions.
   In the digital products division, restructuring helped turn the personal computer business back to profitability.
   The PC segment posted 12 billion yen in operating profit in the nine-month period, compared with an operating loss of 40.8 billion yen a year earlier.
   Electronics devices saw a 11.7 per cent rise in operating profit to 72.6 billion yen as a strong performance in chips and liquid crystal displays in the first half offset a drop in sales and operating income in the third quarter.
   The operating loss in home appliances widened 0.2 per cent to 5.2 billion yen in light of price competition and higher material costs.

Driven by a resurgent services sector, the Philippine economy grew by 6.1 per cent in 2004, exceeding government forecasts of 4.9-5.8 per cent, according to data released Monday.
   The figure published by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) was well above that recorded for 2003 of 4.7 per cent.
   A statement released by the NSCB secretary general, Romulo Virola, said the services sector was the best performer growing by 7.3 per cent from 5.8 per cent in 2003.
   Agriculture, fishery and forestry accelerated by 4.9 per cent from 3.8 per cent while industry picked up its pace by 5.3 per cent from 3.8 per cent, the statement.
   ‘Services, which accounted for about 47 per cent of total GDP, contributed the most to GDP growth with 3.37 percentage points.
   ‘All of its sub-sectors posted accelerated growths in 2004. Top contributors to growth were trade, transportation, communication and storage, and private services,’ the statement said.
   Industry accounted for about 33 per cent of GDP and contributed 1.77 percentage points to total GDP growth.

Asian stock markets closed mostly up Monday as an action packed weekend came and went without any major mishaps.
   A meeting in Vienna of the 11-nation Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies nearly a third of the world's crude oil, agreed to maintain production levels at 27 million barrels a day, helping to keep prices stable.
   Meanwhile, Sunday's elections in Iraq went ahead as planned and despite violent attempts to disrupt voting, they passed off as smoothly as could be hoped for under the circumstances.
   Regional investors shrugged off declines on Wall Street Friday following weak fourth quarter gross domestic product data, with the next major economic data from the United States expected Wednesday when key interest rates are likely to be raised by a modest 0.25 per centage points.
   On the day, Sydney continued its record-breaking ways closing 0.22 per cent higher, while Taipei rose 1.94 per cent on hopes for improved cross-strait relations after the first direct air links between the island and China in 55 years.
   Bombay closed 2.13 per cent higher following a government decision to allow some pension funds to invest in Indian stocks.
   TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed 0.59 per cent higher, supported by firmer futures contracts, but gains were limited as investors awaited earnings results from key blue-chip companies, dealers said.
   They said the weekend elections in Iraq had passed off more smoothly than had been expected and this also helped to remove, or at least ease, one cause for concern.
   The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 67.01 points to 11,387.59. The broader TOPIX index of all First Section shares gained 5.44 points or 0.48 per cent to 1,146.14.
   Advancing shares led decliners by 1,080 to 386 with 131 stocks unchanged. Volume totalled 1.58 billion shares, from 1.56 billion on Friday.
   SEOUL: South Korean share prices closed 1.21 per cent higher on heavy program buying, with the index advancing through the 930 points level, close to a previous record high, dealers said.
   They said that despite a weak start, sentiment was bolstered by the rise of NASDAQ futures in a positive response to a weekend OPEC decision to keep oil production steady, and a smooth ending for elections in Iraq.
   Investors also speculated on a modest interest rate increase in the United
   States this week and limited pressure on the yuan to revalue at the G7 meeting of rich countries ending this weekend.
   The KOSPI index closed up 11.11 points at 932.70. Volume was 460 million shares worth 2.2 trillion won (2.1 billion dollars). Rises led falls by 503 to 236, with 74 stocks unchanged.
   Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 46.1 billion won while institutional investors were net buyers of 175.2 billion won. The won was quoted at 1,025 to the dollar.
   Daishin Securities analyst Kim Young-Ik said program buying helped the rally, pushing the index close to its highest level since April.
   HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 0.52 per cent higher led by the property sector after strong sales of residential units over the weekend at above-average prices, dealers said.
   They said comments by local bank officials that Hong Kong banks may not necessarily hike interest rates following a US rate hike likely this Wednesday also served to boost sentiment for the property sector.
   The key Hang Seng Index closed up 71.63 points at 13,721.69, off a high of 13,762.86. Turnover was 16.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.1 billion US dollars).
   The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was up 9.64 points or 0.2 per cent at 4,721.52.
   TAIPEI: Taiwan share prices closed 1.94 per cent higher on ample liquidity and hopes for improved cross-strait relations after the first direct air links between the island and China in 55 years, dealers said.
   The special direct charter flights, arranged for the Lunar New Year holiday, have been welcomed as easing recent tensions between Taipei and Beijing and perhap opening the way to more such links.
   The key electronics stocks performed strongly, thanks to a rally in heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) after it settled a patent infringement dispute with China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC).
   The weighted index closed up 114.30 points at 5,994.23, after moving between 5,900.37 and 6,002.37, on turnover of 99.74 billion Taiwan dollars (3.14 billion US).
   BOMBAY: Indian share prices closed 2.13 per cent higher on fresh foreign fund buying and a government decision to allow some pension funds to invest in Indian stocks, dealers said.
   The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark Sensex index rose 136.85 points to close at 6,555.94.Bombay.

US telecommunications group SBC Communications said Monday it was acquiring flagging telephone company AT and T as part of a 16-billion-dollar deal that will create the largest US telecoms giant.
   The agreement sounds the death knell for American Telephone and Telegraph, a cultural and business icon that has been in business for 130 years and whose stock was once seen as the nation's gold standard.
   Under the terms of the agreement, AT and T shareholders will receive 0.77942 shares of SBC common stock for each share of AT and T based on SBC's closing stock price on Friday, or 18.41 dollars per share.
   In addition, AT and T will pay its shareholders a special dividend equaling 1.30 dollars per share.
   'Today's agreement is a huge step forward in our efforts to build a company that will lead an American communications revolution in the 21st century,' Edward Whitacre, SBC chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
   David Dorman, chairman and CEO of AT and T, echoed the sentiment, saying that by combining their assets, the two companies will become 'a stronger US-based global competitor capable of delivering the advanced network technologies necessary to offer integrated, high-quality and competitively priced communications services to meet the evolving needs of customers worldwide.'
   The announcement followed approval by the boards of directors of both companies. However, it still requires approval by AT and T shareholders and US regulatory authorities.
   Because of that, the takeover was expected to be finalized by the first half of 2006, officials pointed out.
   Both companies have significant assets they believe winy has become significantly smaller over recent years, AT and T still controls a network of research laboratories that have secured more than 5,600 patents worldwide, according to company officials.
   'We will renew America's leadership in communications technology, with products and services that set the standard for how businesses and individuals communicate,' SBC's Whitacre pointed out, showcasing the benefits of the merger.
   The merger of AT and T into its former offspring marks the end of an era in the US telecoms industry.
   The northern New Jersey-based corporation has been experiencing steady decline since 1984 when the federal government defined it as a monopoly and ordered its break-up into seven local service providers and one long-distance carrier.
   Saddled with growing debt, it has been shedding assets, such as equipment makers NCR and Lucent Technologies in 1996, and AT and T Wireless, which was recently sold to Cingular.

European stock markets rose strongly in early trading Monday as dealers breathed a sigh of relief over the passing of largely successful landmark elections in Iraq, analysts said.
   The London FTSE 100 index gained 0.66 per cent to 4,864.50 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 won 1.20 per cent to 4,252.21 points and in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.92 per cent to 3,906.03.
   The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares rose 0.82 per cent to 2,980.18 points.
   The euro stood at 1.3021 dollars.
   'This morning the FTSE 100 share index rallied on relief that the weekend election in Iraq went off without any major violence or disruption,' analysts at Sucden brokerage firm said.
   The market was supported also by falling oil prices, following the decision by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain output at 27 million barrels per day, dealers said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March dropped 97 cents to 46.21 dollars a barrel in electronic deals.
   'The decline in oil (prices) this morning, after the OPEC meeting that left
   quotas unchanged, and the Iraqi elections, should support the market,' economists at Ixix Securities in Paris noted.
   The airline sector was boosted following better-than-expected third-quarter operating profits from Europe's largest low-cost airline Ryanair, and the fall in oil prices.
   Ryanair gained 7.1 per cent to 6.30 euros and British Airways shares added 2.98 per cent to 267.75 pence
   Rival budget airline easyJet soared 4.3 per cent to 224.5 pence, boosted by a broker upgrade from Panmure Gordon.
   In Asia meanwhile, share prices closed higher, on expectations of easing global tension and accelerated domestic and global growth in 2005, dealers said.
   Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 0.59 per cent to 11,387.59 points on Monday, supported by firmer futures contracts, but gains were limited as investors awaited earnings results from key blue-chip companies.
   Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed up 0.52 per cent at 13,721.69 points, off a high of 13,762.86, led by the property sector after strong sales of residential units over the weekend at above-average prices.
   On Wall Street Friday, the Procter and Gamble-Gillette merger and better-than-expected results from Microsoft were overshadowed by a weak report on the US economy and fears over the Iraq elections.
   The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38 per cent to 10,427.20 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 0.55 per cent to close at 2,035.83.
   The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index retreated 0.27 per cent to 1,171.36 points.
   The indexes did manage to post their first weekly gains for 2005, albeit modest.

India’s top oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp. produced quarterly profits that more than doubled on higher oil prices, but as output growth stalls, it is looking to Russian deals and lower domestic energy subsidies to maintain momentum.
   New Delhi-based ONGC, the country's biggest listed firm by market value, said net profit grew to 34.93 billion Indian rupees ($799 million) for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 from 17.19 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected profits to rise to 37.2 billion rupees.
   World oil prices hit record highs in October, helped by strong demand growth in major emerging economies India and China and boosting earnings for oil firms around the world.
   ONGC's earnings, however, are constrained by state caps on crude oil and fuels prices-subsidies that sliced 13.32 billion rupees off revenues for the quarter-but which analysts believe may be reduced this year.
   An ONGC statement said profits for the quarter would have been higher by 63 per cent if it was not for the subsidies bill.
   ONGC shares rose 9.5 per cent over the quarter, compared with the Bombay index's 18 per cent gain. Ahead of the earnings, the shares closed 2.7 per cent higher at 818.90 rupees.
   'The subsidy bill is higher than what I had expected and that could be why the result is below forecast,' said Jaspreet Singh, senior analyst with Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.
   'But I think the worst is over as oil prices have come off. In the fourth quarter, the subsidies bill should come down unless oil prices go up again.' The company, 74-per cent-owned by the government and with a market capitalisation of $26 billion, sells crude oil, gas and other products such as liquefied petroleum gas and naphtha to refining and marketing businesses in India.

Three collapsed banks reopened Monday in Zimbabwe under the aegis of a new umbrella banking group that President Robert Mugabe's government hopes will revive the ailing financial sector.
   Clients whose money was locked up in the Royal, Barbican and Trust banks-shut down last year-queued up from morning nationwide to withdraw their funds at 22 branches of the new Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG).
   But angry customers complained their money was still locked up.
   'I came here under the impression that I would be able to access all my money only to be told I would not be able to get anything above five million dollars (806 US/ 618 euros),' Edgar Chidavaenzi, a farmer, told AFP at a ZABG branch in downtown Harare.
   'I need money to pay for labour and electricity and all my money is still locked up.'
   A ZABG official who declined to give his name said account-holders in the three collapsed banks would only be able to withdraw a one-off sum of five million dollars from the ZABG while the rest of their savings would be turned into shares.
   'Clients will have shares in ZABG and they can decide whether to sell their shares or not when the bank registers on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Opening an account is not a means by which to access your money,' she said.
   The ZABG initially comprises the three banks but other distressed banks are expected to join.
   Zimbabwe's financial sector was wracked by its worst crisis last year that left seven banks under curatorship and three financial institutions liquidated.
   'We need money at the moment not shares in ZABG and this is confusing now because we thought the purpose was for us to access our funds,' said account-holder Gilbert Kayaya, walking out of a ZABG branch with a sheaf of forms.
   'We did not expect all this confusion.'
   The central bank plans to inject two trillion dollars into the ZABG. Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono, who has been tasked with trying to revive the moribund economy, set up the ZABG to help distressed banks.
   Zimbabwe is trying to revive its tattered economy,
   which is plagued by high unemployment levels, poverty and the highest inflation rate in the world.
   The problems stem partly from the country's isolation from its former trade partners in the West after Zimbabwe embarked on its controversial land reform programme in early 2000.

HSBC to accept China UnionPay cards
HSBC Holdings said it had reached an agreement with China’s main bankcard network that would allow China UnionPay cardholders to use HSBC’s automated teller machines (ATMs) in Hong Kong. China UnionPay bank card holders will be able to withdraw Hong Kong dollars from ATMs operated by Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. and Hang Seng Bank Ltd., HSBC’s local operations. HSBC is the largest bank in Hong Kong and has over 1,000 ATMs. ‘This is an important development for HSBC as it allows us to serve the growing number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong,’ said Dorothy Sit, head of personal financial services for Hong Kong. Since the mainland’s currency is not fully convertible and its banking system has few international links, it can be difficult for mainland Chinese traveling abroad to access their funds. But the Chinese Government has been gradually relaxing some of its controls, making it easier for individuals to take small amounts of money out of the mainland.
— Xinhuanet

Citigroup to expand Singapore operation
US banking giant Citigroup Inc. plans to spend S$20 million ($12 million) this year to double its network of Singapore branches and automated teller machines (ATMs), a Citigroup official said on Monday. The expansion from Citibank’s current 4 branches and 5 ATMs would increase its geographical presence in Singapore in direct competition with big local rivals such as United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. Citibank Singapore has about 400,000 customers in the wealthy city-state, making it a major player among foreign banks in Singapore. That compares with about 3 million retail customers at DBS, Singapore’s biggest bank by assets. Joel Kornreich, Citibank Singapore’s Consumer Banking Business Director, said Citigroup aimed to increase its retail business in Singapore, including revenue and number of customers, by 50 per cent over the next two years. He declined to specify the size of that business now but said at a news conference: ‘The retail banking business has grown more than 50 per cent in the last two years.’ Singapore, Southeast Asia’s wealthiest country, is already considered by analysts to have too many banks, with 115 branches serving the island’s 4.2 million people. After focusing on Internet networks in the last few years, banks are once again expanding their branch networks, said Lee Ah Boon, Citibank Singapore country business manager. ‘Whether it is in Europe, US or Asia, we’re seeing branches increasing again after the Internet age,’ he said, adding that the bank would raise by 150 its current 1,600-strong staff.
— Reuters

Kodak to buy Creo
for $980 million
Eastman Kodak on Monday said it would buy printing technology firm Creo Inc for about $980 million in cash, to bolster its strategy to push more aggressively into the commercial printing business. Kodak, which has been undertaking a challenging transition to digital products as it shifts focus from its flagging traditional film business, will pay $16.50 per share for Creo. Shares of Creo, whose board has approved the proposed deal, closed at $14.36 on Friday on Nasdaq. Kodak said the deal will modestly dilute earnings for the rest of 2005, but said it was committed to a forecast of 2005 full-year earnings per share in the range of $2.60 to $2.90. For 2006, Kodak said it expects that the acquisition of the Vancouver, British Colombia-based maker of prepress systems to add at least 5 cents per share to operational earnings, with about $700 million of incremental revenue. Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, reiterated its target for earnings from operations of $3 a share in 2006. Kodak had earmarked some $3 billion for acquisitions by 2006 when it launched its transformation toward growth markets such as commercial printing and digital photography in 2003. Earlier this month, it announced plans to take full control of Kodak Polychrome Graphics, a maker of commercial graphics films and plates, by buying Sun Chemical Corp.’s 50 per cent stake in the joint venture for about $817 million over several years.
— Reuters

VW, GM continue to lead Chinese market
The list of top 10 automakers in China was reshuffled in 2004. But Volkswagen and General Motors have maintained their leading position in the world’s most potent market. Volkswagen’s Shanghai branch tops the list, with an annual output of 347,000 units, and 355,000 units sold. It boasts of the second-largest market share, in a joint venture with First Automotive Works. GM’s Shanghai branch follows VW’s two branches. Figures also show that the top ten automakers’ market share dropped in 2004. Their total output accounts for 72 per cent of the market, while sales covering 75 per cent, down 6.5 and 5.2 per cent, respectively.
— Internet

Ryanair hit by
soaring fuel costs
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, has reported a 26% drop in quarterly profit after it lowered fares and the price of fuel soared. Net profit was 35m euros ($45.5m; £24m) in the three months ending 31 December, from 47.5m euros a year earlier. Despite the fall, the earnings were better than expected and Ryanair was bullish about its prospects. The Dublin-based carrier forecast that more of its competitors would go bust, helping secure future profit growth. Shrinking market? ‘As predicted, casualties continue in the European industry,’ said Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary, citing firms including Volare, VBird and Air Polonia. He added that companies including Italy’s Alitalia and Scandinavia’s SAS have posted record losses, while others such as Hapag Lloyd Express, MyTravel Lite and Basiq Air ‘have announced significant reversals of capacity’. ‘This is not a temporary phenomenon resulting from high oil prices, but a permanent market shift towards low cost air travel,’ O’Leary said. Fuel factor Ryanair’s passenger volumes during the October to December period grew by 13 per cent to 6.9 million. Total sales climbed 15 per cent to 294.4m euros.
— BBC