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Industrial estates of the Bangladesh Small Cottage Industries Corporation have attracted about Tk 800 crore of investment for small industries in the just ended fiscal 2004-2005, which was 12 per cent higher than that of the previous fiscal, said official sources.
   The corporation in a report to the industries ministry last week claimed that different newly established small industrial units also created employments for 1,10,522 people during the period, which increased by more than 2 per cent.
   ‘Investments and employments are quite satisfactory in the small and cottage industries,’ said the report, which showed that in the fiscal 2004-2005, industries in the BSCIC estates, got investment of Tk 793 crore, against Tk 707 crore, in the previous fiscal.
   The report showed that more than 80 per cent of industrial plots in BSCIC areas already developed, have been delivered to the entrepreneurs.
   BSCIC so far developed 9,055 plots, in already developed 54 industrial estates out of 64 of such projects, and in most of the estates, there is no undelivered plots presently, the report showed.
   The report also showed that during the period, BSCIC industries produced Tk 10,333 crore worth of industrial goods and Tk 3,243 crore worth of goods were exported to foreign countries.
   The corporation’s report said BSCIC was waiting for a huge investment in some of its under-developing estates, including the Savar Leather Industry Estate and the Dhaka Industrial Estate in Keraniganj.
   The Tk 176 crore Savar Leather Industry Estate, with an area of over 200 acres of land, will facilitate a total of 195 tanneries and will create about one lakh of employment opportunities, BSCIC authorities expect.
   The modern estate would have the infrastructures, including roads, drains, culverts, electricity, water, gas, police station, fire service station, bank, insurance, post office, telephone office and canteen for the workers and a primary health centre, officials said.
   The officials of the corporation said recently that they had focused on facilitating the small and medium enterprises, in the newly developed and under-developing estates.

A two-day international conference on corporate governance will begin in Dhaka on July 30 aiming to make a platform for ‘best corporate practice’ in Bangladesh.
   the Centre for Corporate Governance and Finance Studies, University of Dhaka, in association with the Dhaka Stock Exchange, planned to organise the conference titled ‘International Conference on Corporate Governance in Bangladesh’.
   It will be supported by the Asia Roundtable on Corporate Governance, the Government of Japan and the Asia Foundation, said organisers at a press briefing held at the DSE office Tuesday.
   The conference, first of its kind in Bangladesh and the fourth in Asia, aims at addressing issues on strengthening corporate governance in the country with best business practice. The third one was held in Vietnam in 2004.
   It would focus on rights of the shareholders, equitable treatment of shareholders, disclosure and transparency in corporate reporting, composition and responsibilities of boards, audit committee and improvement in judicial process in the light of Bangladesh as well as Asian experiences.
   President Professor Dr Iajuddin Ahmed will inaugurate the conference at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel while the education minister Dr Osman Faruk will attend the opening ceremony that will be chaired by the Dhaka University vice-chancellor SMA Faiz.
   The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, the law minister, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, and the commerce minister, Air Vice Mar (Retd) Altaf Hossain Choudhury, will attend the concluding session of the conference.
   ‘A set of recommendations will be handed over to the government to adopt an action plan to ensure corporate governance in Bangladesh,’ said Professor Baqui Khalily, chairman of the DU centre, at the briefing.
   ‘We will urge the government for a legal enforcement to ensure best business practice,’ he said.
   Stressing it as the need of the hour, he told reporters that the practice of corporate governance remained undermined despite the growth of the private sector over the last 10 years.
   This is because of wrong notion about the businesses which fear transparency and accountability, he added.
   ‘But the important part is that the corporate governance helps increasing efficiency, productivity and optimal utilisation of the limited resources, which boost the private sector growth,’ he noted.
   In this regard, the DSE vice-president, Ahmad Rashid Lali, said, ‘Most of companies [in Bangladesh] are family companies.’
   ‘They lack professionalism and do not even bother about shareholders’ interest,’ he said stressing, ‘We must bring professionalism in the corporate culture.’
   Among others, the DSE president, Shahiq Khan, DU professors Humayun Murshed, M Osman Imam, and the DSE chief executive, Officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, spoke at the briefing.
   Speakers said the conference would help create awareness among the stakeholders, including company management, shareholders, government and people on the issue.
   They said that the practice of corporate governance will be incorporated in the stock market.
   About 100 local participants, including representatives of 80 listed companies at DSE, will participate in the conference. Besides, 11 foreign experts will join as resource persons, the organisers informed.
   The OECD first initiated to develop common code of governance for the private sector enterprises of developed countries in 1998. Later it spread the corporate standards in developing countries in Asia and elsewhere, which was pioneered by Japan and Korea.

The state-run cell phone company, Teletalk, Tuesday signed interconnectivity agreement with the Banglalink ending the sufferings of its nearly 80,000 clients.
   The Teletalk managing director, M Obaidullah, and the chief executive officer of the Banglalink, Lars P Reichelt, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies.
   The Teletalk earlier this week signed similar accords with the three other mobile phone companies – AKTEL, CITYCELL and GrameenPhone.
   The Teletalk subscribers were constrained to reach mobile phones of other operators due to delays in signing interconnectivity agreements caused by conditions put forwarded by the private mobile phone operators.
   However, sources said, it may take around a week for the Teletalk users to get access to mobile phones of the private operators.

A tourism fair with the slogan ‘Let’s See Bangladesh’ will be held on November 22-25 at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital with an objective to promote tourism in the country.
   The fair will project a positive image of Bangladesh to the international tourists, said the chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Dr Mahfuzul Haque, while talking to New Age Tuesday.
   Many local and foreign tourism related organisations will participate in the fair and it will be a big occasion, he said.
   The Universal Media, an event management company, will organise the ‘Bangladesh Tourism Fair 2005’, hosted by the corporation.
   More than 100 stalls and pavilion will be set up in the fair where hotels, airlines, guest houses, motels, resorts, one stop service providers, cruise operators, amusement parks, banks, insurances, theme parks, reserve forests, duty-free shops, souvenir shops and film producers will showcase their products and services.
   Beside, different traditional and ancient cultures of different areas will be shown on every evening in the four day gala.
   ‘Nearly 30,000 foreign visitors visit the country every year while only 10 per cent of them are leisure tourists. Our aim is to increase the number of leisure tourists,’ said BPC chairman.
   He hoped that this kind of fair would enhance the interest of the tourism industry in the country.
   Some foreign participants from India, Nepal and China will exhibit their products and tourism industry in the fair.
   The Parjatan Corporation will provide transport, accommodation, ticketing and advertising facilities for the foreign participants in the fair.
   One has to pay Tk 50,000 for a stall and Tk 2,00,000 for a pavilion in the fair. Interested participants and organisations have been requested to log on the website www.tourismfair05.com or contact the Parjatan Corporation or the Universal Media office. The last date for registration is August 31.

Indian tea workers ended Tuesday a 15-day strike after winning a 17 per cent wage hike in a dispute that paralysed tea production in the eastern state of West Bengal, officials said.
   The three-year deal ending the strike during the peak plucking season by workers employed on over 300 large tea plantations and 1,200 small tea gardens in the Himalayan foothills was brokered by the Marxist state government.
   ‘Planters and tea garden workers unions have reached a three-year agreement to increase daily wages,’ state Labour Minister Mohammed Amin told reporters.
   The deal raises wages by 17 per cent to 53.90 rupees (1.24 dollars) a day from 45.90 rupees over the next three years. The workers had sought to increase daily wages to 88 rupees.
   In a boon to planters who say India’s tea industry – the world’s largest – needs to become more competitive in global markets, the pact also raises incentive-related pay in an effort to increase productivity.
   Workers will get an extra one rupee for every six kilograms (13.2 pounds) of tea plucked over 24 kilograms (52.8 pounds), double the previous rate. Those picking more than 32 kilograms (70.4 pounds) will get 1.50 rupees for every extra kilogram (2.2 pounds).
   However, failure to pluck a minimum 24 kilograms (52.8 pounds) will result in deduction of one rupee from wages with penalties escalating.

The Bangladesh Bank Governor, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, here on Tuesday said there is no alternative to formulating correct plans in accelerating overall development of the country.
   Implementation of the right plans is a must to build a world free from poverty and starvation by the year 2015, he said while addressing the inaugural session of the 39th general planning conference of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD).
   Dr Saleh also stressed the necessity of successful implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
   He also lauded the programmes chalked out by BARD particularly in the fields of education, health and nutrition.
   BARD Director General M Nazrul Islam presided over the inaugural session.
   Some 120 participants including representatives from international organisations, researchers, planners, government officials and university teachers are taking part in the conference.

The Indian truckers’ enforced indefinite strike entered the 6th day on Tuesday.
   The strike was enforced on Thursday, demanding unconditional releases of the four Indian reconditioned trucks that were
   seized earlier by Benapole customs and the Bangladesh Rifles.
   Import from India remained suspended, with hundreds of goods laden trucks stranded at Petrapole—the Indian side of the border.

With the aim of providing efficient and reliable remittance facility through banking channel to non-resident Bangladeshis living in UAE, Prime Bank Limited had made a broad based remittance arrangement, said a press release.
   The bank will ensure reliable and cost effective delivery of wage earners remittances to the beneficiaries, in a fastest possible time. The arrangement provides a wide range of choices, like remitting funds through web based instant cash delivery services, telegraphic transfers and demand draft facilities. To support such a broad based remittance arrangement the bank has already established a pro-active centralised remittance centre at the head office, which is technologically equipped and actively engaged to ensure delivery of remittances received from the NRBs, living in different parts of the world, as well as meeting queries.
   For the NRBs in UAE, the bank has recently signed drawing arrangement with Wall Street Exchange Centre LLC, Dubai, which allows remittance through TT and DD and also signed web based ICD product of UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Abu Dhabi.
   Besides, the bank has existing drawing arrangements with UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Abu Dhabi and Federal Exchange, Dubai.
   It is also negotiating with other exchange companies for remittance arrangement, to make the network in UAE more extensive.
   The bank, also to facilitate remittance banking facility to the NRBs in other countries of the world, has arrangements with Placid NK Corporation, New York, ICS Money Transfers (UK) Limited, London, Arab National Bank, KSA, Oman International Bank SAOG, Oman and UAE Exchange Centre and Co. LLC, Oman and UniCredito Italiano SPA, Milano, Italy.

AKTEL and Shakti Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, signed a corporate agreement on July 21, at AKTEL's head office in Dhaka, said a press release.
   The managing director of AKTEL, Nasir Bin Baharom and the founder executive director of the NGO, Shakti Foundation, Humaira Islam, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
   AKTEL will provide special benefits like group talk plan, discounted bill and customised facilities to the NGO.
   The chief operations officer of AKTEL, Vijay Watson, deputy director of Shakti Foundation, Syeda Obaida Haq and other senior executives of the organisations were present during the occasion.

Dhaka Bank Limited completed its 10th year of operation on July 5. Commemorating the occasion, the employees of the head office and the Dhaka region branches organised a ‘family night’ at Bashundhara Exhibition Centre in Dhaka July 21, said a press release.
   Addressed by chairperson, Rokshana Zaman, vice chairperson, Shahnaz Naznin, former vice chairperson, Afroza Abbas and managing director, Shahed Noman, the ‘night’ saw long service awards being given away to 19 executives, officers and staff, for they too completed their ten years of service with the bank.
   The deputy-managing directors, Khondker Fazle Rashid and Mohammad Abu Musa, executive vice president and company secretary, Arham Masudul Huq, senior executives and children and spouses of the employees, also attended the function.

The half-yearly closing 2005 of Janata Bank was held at BIAM auditorium on Saturday, said a press release.
   The chairman of the board of directors, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, advised all to provide better customer service and expand bank business.
   The managing director, SM Aminur Rahman, informed the meeting about the success of the bank, including receiving the award as the ‘Bank of the Year-2005’ by the London based magazine, The Banker, and also receiving the ‘Asian Banking Award-2005’, given by Philippine Banking Association.
   He also emphasised upon the recovery of classified loan and increase supervision follow-up and monitoring within court, outside court.
   To protect fraud and forgery, he advised to increase constant follow-up and inspection on the banking transactions.
   The deputy-managing director, all directors, area and regional general managers, and corporate branch managers were also present on the occasion.

Unocal Corp’s board came close to accepting a bold takeover offer from China’s CNOOC Ltd. despite the risks surrounding the Chinese bid, until original suitor Chevron Corp was persuaded to raise its bid, according to regulatory filings on Monday.
   The documents provided the first glimpse of the hushed boardroom discussions and behind-the-scenes drama that unfolded after CNOOC’s $18.5 billion offer for Unocal in June threatened to undo the US oil producer’s existing $16 billion-plus deal with larger Californian rival Chevron.
   After days of discussions with both suitors, Unocal’s board told Chief Executive Chuck William-son on July 17 to inform Chevron it was inclined to shift its support to CNOOC unless Chevron sweetened its offer, according to the detailed timeline included in a proxy statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
   That notice came after CNOOC Chairman Fu Chengyu declined a request by Williamson to raise his company’s $67-a-share cash offer, and even though Williamson told Fu that a raised bid ‘could likely result in a conclusion of the process,’ according to the timeline.
   Unocal’s board backed a sweetened $63 per share offer from Chevron, the second-largest US oil company, on July 20, despite an earlier CNOOC bid at $67 per share.
   Even with the increase, Chevron’s bid continues to trade at a discount to Unocal shares, which were down 8 cents at $64.92 a share on Monday.
   The CNOOC offer faces political opposition in Washington, which is seen as the biggest barrier to completing a deal. Analysts have pegged Chevron as the favorite to win Unocal, partly due to concern US lawmakers would reject a CNOOC deal on national security grounds or that a deal with the Chinese suitor would be delayed by a long review process.
   The latest filings also offered additional details on the financing of the CNOOC bid, which have attracted attention lately because of the view that the Chinese government is subsidising the offer through below market interest rates and provisions.
   CNOOC’s parent — the Chinese government owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.—has agreed to finance up to $7 billion of the offer in the form of subordinated debt financing, the filings said.
   Of that amount, $2.5 billion would be in the form of a 30-year interest free loan and up to $4.5 billion would be in the form of a 30-year loan with annual interest of 3.5 per cent, though that interest would not have to be paid if CNOOC’s credit rating dropped below a certain threshold.
   Also, any interest not paid because of a drop in CNOOC’s credit rating would not cumulate or have to be repaid.
   Chevron has previously alleged that CNOOC’s bid is simply a move by the Chinese government to secure global energy supplies, and that the battle is not being conducted on a level playing field.
   Unocal shareholders will vote on the Chevron bid on Aug. 10. The SEC filing on Monday was the revised proxy statement related to that vote, with the details of the higher Chevron offer.
   Though Unocal’s board has backed Chevron’s recently raised bid, the outcome of the vote is far from clear.

China’s 2.1 per cent revaluation of the yuan last week does not mean there will be more adjustments to the currency, the central bank said on Tuesday.
   Foreign media reports describing the long-awaited move as an ‘initial adjustment’ to the exchange rate were incorrect, the bank said.
   The revaluation of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, was simply the first step in reform of the whole currency regime, it explained.
   ‘It does not mean that the renminbi was adjusted by 2 per cent as an initial step, with further adjustments to come later,’ the central bank said on its Web site.
   The statement appeared aimed at clarifying remarks on Saturday by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan describing the move as an ‘initial adjustment.’
   The central bank stressed that reform of China’s foreign exchange regime would be a gradual process.
   It said the new level of 8.11 yuan to the dollar, up from the virtually fixed rate near 8.28 that had obtained for more than 8 years, was chosen to reflect the currency’s equilibrium level—the rate that would reflect supply and demand for the yuan and the fundamentals of China’s economy.

The top US labour federation, the AFL-CIO, faced a devastating split Monday after two of its largest unions broke away on the opening day of its 50th anniversary convention.
   The loss of the 1.2 million member Teamsters union and the 1.3 million member Service Employees International Union dealt a huge blow to the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Unions as it tries to reverse a slide in membership and loss of political influence.
   Two other major unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE, boycotted the convention while the remaining three unions who have joined the dissident ‘Change To Win’ coalition chose to attend the convention.
   The seven unions represent nearly half of AFL-CIO’s 13 million members. The split is being watched with concern by the Democratic Party which gets finance and organisational help from the union movement.
   AFL-CIO president John Sweeney hit out at the rebel unions at the start of the anniversary congress.
   ‘At a time when our corporate and conservative adversaries have created the most powerful anti-worker political machine in the history of our country, a divided movement hurts the hopes of working families for a better life,’ he said to a standing ovation from the 1,000 delegates.
   However, the leaders of the two defecting unions vowed to work with the AFL-CIO to protect labour rights.
   ‘The Teamsters will remain the bulwark of the labour movement,’ president James Hoffa said at a press conference announcing the split. ‘Striking workers, no matter what union they belong to, can always count on the Teamsters for support and assistance.’
   SEIU president Andy Stern said the new labour coalition will continue to work with state-level central labour councils to lobby for political change. He said he also hopes to partner with the AFL-CIO on political issues.
   ‘It’s a decision the AFL-CIO has to make because we’ve made ours. It’s that we want to work together,’ he said.
   The dissident unions have been fighting for months to increase funding for organising and have said the federation ought to reorganise its 56 member unions along industrial lines in order to boost their strength.
   An AP report from Washington says, the AFL-CIO fracture is posing potential problems for Democratic leaders, who rely heavily on unions for money and volunteers. And it could play into the hands of Republicans seeking to extend their clout among one of the most traditionally Democratic constituencies.
   Because the AFL-CIO has played such a major role in supporting Democrats over the years, the rift is producing unease among top Democrats who have seen the control of both Congress and the White House slip from them in recent years.
   ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen but it’s not going to help,’ said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
   Labour experts suggested the dispute could continue to erode the Democratic hold on labour and offer an opening to Republicans. ‘This put labour up for grabs in American politics again,’ said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland.
   Both the dissident coalition leaders, SEIU president Andrew Stern and Teamsters president James P Hoffa, however, disputed that there would be any net falloff in support for Democratic candidates. ‘We will have as much or more money to organise and to be politically active,’ Hoffa told reporters in Chicago.
   But there will be ‘a period of adjustment’ that will begin to impact candidates running in 2006, said Democratic strategist Jenny Backus. ‘Instead of one-stop shopping, it will be two-stop shopping’ for those seeking union support, she said.
   However, most Democratic candidates ‘already have strong relationships’ with both the AFL-CIO and the two unions that bolted. People from union households accounted for 24 per cent of the 2004 presidential election vote. And they chose Democrat John Kerry over Republican Bush by a margin of 3-2.

Japan’s big four electronics conglomerates, led by Hitachi Ltd., are expected to post quarterly losses this week due to a slump in their chip businesses but analysts said they will likely forecast a recovery in the second half and a rise in profit for the full year.
   April-June first quarter results from Hitachi, Toshiba Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp., due on Thursday, will pale in comparison to last year when there was particularly strong demand for computer chips.
   ‘Chip demand was at its peak a year ago and it has probably bottomed out in the quarter just ended,’ said JP Morgan Securities analyst Yoshiharu Izumi.
   ‘Because we are comparing the crest with the trough, the scale of the decline is quite big,’ he said.
   The first quarter for the companies tends to be weakest.
   Unlike consumer electronics firms, electronics conglomerates are active in infrastructure-related business such as power plants and computer systems integration for the public sector.
   This means revenues tend to concentrate in the final quarter.
   The outlook for the sector brightened after last week’s announcement by Elpida Memory Inc. that an oversupply in the DRAM market would likely ebb in the second half of 2005.
   Elpida, a joint venture between Hitachi and NEC that ranks as the world’s fifth-largest DRAM chip maker, reported a net loss of 3.3 billion yen ($29.56 million) for April-June but said it expected a profit of 14 billion yen for the full-year to next March.
   That, many analysts said, was a sign the top four electronics conglomerates could manage to pull off a rise in full year profit despite the slump in the first quarter.

South Korea’s economy picked up speed in the second quarter on the back of increased consumer spending and construction investment, offering hope the country has finally turned the corner, official figures showed Tuesday.
   The Bank of Korea said Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 3.3 per cent in the three months to June compared to a year earlier and after a 2.7 per cent gain in the first quarter. Market expectations were for growth of around 3.2 per cent.
   The central bank earlier this month lowered its economic growth forecast for this year to 3.8 per cent from 4.0 per cent, citing the negative impact of record high oil prices and uncertain domestic demand.
   ‘Exports remained on a solid growth path, while construction investment shifted from negative growth into positive territory and consumer spending expanded considerably,’ it said.
   The quarterly figures brought first half growth to 3.0 per cent, down from 4.6 per cent last year.
   Seasonally-adjusted, second quarter GDP grew 1.2 per cent compared with the first when it rose 0.4 per cent as a moderate slowdown in exports was largely offset by increased private and public spending.
   Exports, which have been the key driver for the economy, expanded 6.1 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter after 8.1 per cent in the first.
   Construction investment increased 1.8 per cent, reversing a 2.9 per cent decline in the first quarter, buoyed by a turnaround in house building.
   At the same time, private spending growth nearly doubled to 2.7 per cent from the first quarter’s 1.4 per cent as consumers purchased more cars, computers and services.
   ‘We have a better progress report for the second quarter as private consumption improved moderately and the construction sector shifted to positive growth,’ said Director General Kim Byung-Hwa, in charge of economic data at the central bank.
   ‘The economy is expected to display a gradual recovery in the second half (of the year) rather than a strong upturn,’ he said, due to the impact of high oil prices and sluggish corporate capital spending.
   Investment in plant and equipment slowed to 2.7 per cent in the second quarter from 3.1 per cent in the first, with the downturn most evident in the semiconductor, shipbuilding and aircraft segments.
   Government spending rose 4.2 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting its efforts to pump-prime the economy by front-loading its budget commitments into the first half of the year to support the recovery.
   Goldman Sachs said in a report that the pick-up in the second quarter marks the ‘beginning of a more sustained recovery.
   ‘Domestic demand is pulling more weight. Even more encouraging than the headline GDP acceleration is greater evidence that domestic demand is gaining more traction,’ it said.

China is set to order the merger of two major state electronics groups to create a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate as part of its bid to improve corporate competitiveness, state press reported Tuesday.
   The merger of China Electronics Corp (CEC) and China Great Wall Computer Group would make for a company worth more than 50 billion yuan (6.17 billion dollars), the China Daily reported.
   The plan has already been submitted to the State Council’s Asset Supervision and Administration Commission, which is meant to guide the growth of China’s state enterpries, the newspaper said.
   ‘We are currently assessing the assets of both CEC and the Great Wall Group,’ said China Electronics vice president Liu Xuehong. ‘The shareholding structure of the new company that will be created has yet to be defined,’ Liu told the newspaper.
   CEC had assets of 39.6 billion yuan in 2003, including Amoi Electronics and silicon chip manufacturer Shanghai Huahong Corp, while Great Wall owns 12.2 billion yuan in assets, including Hong Kong listed Great Wall Technology Co.
   Beijing is also studying the possibility of including the Panda Electronics Group in the tie-up as well another electronics conglomerate China Putian Corp.

For Nexon Corp, a booming South Korean online game producer, bucking the conventional wisdom certainly paid off.
   The company is raking in millions of dollars every month by selling digital images, not real products.
   It sells ‘avatars’, cyber representations of online game players, and virtual baubles such as karts, clothes and weapons for its wildly popular Kart Driver game.
   Nexon’s 37-year-old founder, Kim Jung-Ju, made the headlines this month when Forbes Korea, a local business magazine, ranked him as South Korea’s richest ‘venture company’ owner with a fortune of some 340 million dollars.
   It seems game players are happy to pay up to ensure they have the best, and coolest, karts to compete with rivals playing Nexon’s flasghip video game.
   ‘I bought my kart for 10,000 won (9.5 dollars). They give you a stripped-down basic model for free but you have to buy a good one to stand a better chance to win,’ says a 27-year-old user at a games parlour without taking his eyes off the screen.
   ‘I am not so game-crazy but I come here to play Kart Driver once or twice a week,’ says Kim Young-Soo, fingers dancing on the keys as he drives his colorful virtual kart through a bridge, waterfall and a minefield.
   After a quick lunch, Kim and his friend, both insurance company employees, were sitting in a game parlour full of cigarette smoke and packed with dozens of players, met three others online for a round of Kart Rider racing game.
   ‘Why is it so popular? I think that’s because this game is easy to play and fun. The characters are so cute, women and kids especially like it. You use only the shift, control and direction keys to drive,’ Kim says of the game.
   Kim also bought a balloon for 0.4 dollars to float behind his kart and helps protect it by lifting it to avoid a 0.9-dollar missile launched by a rival.
   Kart Driver brought fame and money to Nexon. Launched a year ago, it still earns Nexon some five million dollars a month.
   Nexon said the game had attracted 12 million users, or one fourth of the country’s population, and 200,000 users simultaneously logged on for the game at peak times.
   As real car racing is in its infancy in South Korea, some business firms have even found chances for publicity on the virtual racing track.
   They emblazon their company names on the back of cyber drivers in Kart Driver in return for real money paid to professional gamers maneuvering the virtual karts.
   Nexon and Coca Cola Korea jointly sponsor an ongoing nation-wide tournament, where the winner will get 20,000 dollars of the 50,000 dollars at stake. A top mobile carrier, KTF, is also financing a separate 30,000-dollar tournament.
   ‘A pro gamers’ league is in the offing,’ says Nexon spokesman Lee Jae-Kyo, adding that a garment maker and a few other firms are seeking to launch teams of professional players for cyber racing competitions.
   Lee brushes aside allegations that Nexon aped the Mario Kart video game produced by Japan’s Nintendo.
   She says Kart Driver and Mario Kart belong to the same genre but are two different games, stressing that Kart Driver is using a totally different technology, its own characters and items.
   Founded in 1994, Nexon launched its first on-line game, Quiz-Quiz, in 1999, pioneering a niche market where virtual doohickeys such as avatars, clothes and game tools, are traded for real money.
   It then followed it up with other successes such as Maple Story, a ‘role-playing’ game where characters grow in power by eating monsters and can be decked in cyber clothes and armed with virtual weapons purchased online.

British media giant Reuters reported on Tuesday its first quarter of underlying revenue growth since 2001, while announcing it would return 1.0 billion pounds to shareholders over the next two years.
   Reuters said recurring revenues rose 0.4 per cent to 547 million pounds (816 million euros, 954 million dollars) in the three months to the end of June compared with the same period last year.
   The second-quarter figure was the first period of growth since the third quarter of 2001, the group said in a statement accompanying the results.
   ‘It is a huge step forward for Reuters to see our most closely-watched revenue measure — underlying recurring revenue — back in positive territory in the second quarter,’ said Reuters Chief Executive Tom Glocer.
   Recurring revenues, the best measure of underlying demand for Reuters’ data and news terminals, had been in steady decline since mid-2001, after massive falls on global stock exchanges produced huge job cuts in the financial services industry.
   Reuters also said it would return 1.0 billion pounds to investors through a repurchase of its own shares, funded mainly by the 1.0-billion-dollar sale of its controlling stake in US electronic brokerage Instinet.
   Alongside the interim results, Glocer unveiled the company’s investment strategy for after the current ‘Fast Forward’ cost-cutting plan, which ends next year.
   The media group meanwhile gave an encouraging assessment of the year ahead.
   ‘For the second half of 2005, Reuters expects underlying recurring revenue growth of 1.0-2.0 per cent,’ the statement added.

The dollar firmed against other major currencies in Asian trade Tuesday as the market refocused on solid US economic fundamentals as the immediate impact of China’s revaluation of the yuan faded, dealers said.
   The dollar rose to 111.87 yen in late Tokyo afternoon trade from 111.41 yen in late New York deals. It was trading at 112 levels before China’s widely expected but surprisingly timed revaluation Thursday.
   The euro slipped to 1.2033 dollars from 1.2062 dollars and slightly firmed to 134.61 yen from 134.50 yen. Market players ‘had built up short positions on the yen and the yuan revaluation gave a cue for squaring them.
   One event is now over,’ said Satoru Ogasawara, currency strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo. ‘Trading has returned to focus on the healthy economic fundamentals of the United States and the supportive stance on higher interest rates’ at the US Federal Reserve, he said.
   US second quarter growth figures due Friday are expected to confirm the more confident outlook for the world’s largest economy, Ogasawara said.
   ‘Market participants are generally expecting upcoming US data this week to come in upbeat, so a likely scenario is that the greenback would edge up,’ said Harry Ida, senior analyst at Thomson Financial’s IFR Forex Watch.
   Dealers said expectations have faded of China taking additional currency reforms. Beijing has downplayed the prospect of a quick move.
   ‘Traders are becoming wary of China taking any further measures to raise the yuan’s value more decisively in the immediate future, although some speculators overseas may again try to push the yen up on talk of a further yuan appreciation ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the US in September,’ Ida said.

Dubai based Indian owned company Geebee Trading Company is going to establish a garments manufacturing Industry in Dhaka Export Processing Zone.
   An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and
   the M/s. Geebee Garments Industries Ltd in Dhaka on Tuesday (25-07-2005) Md Shahjahan, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Deepak C Jethwani, managing director of Geebee Garments Industries Ltd have signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective sides.
   This industry will create employment opportunity also.
   Among others the executive chairman Md Zakir Hossain psc, member (Finance) Masud Ahmed, Syed Ahmed and general manager (Investment Promotion) A Z M Azizur Rahman of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony, says a press release.

DSE closes higher
Trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange closed higher Tuesday with the losers dominating the gainers. The DSE All Share Price Index decreased by 0.4361 points or 0.0364 per cent to close at 1196.2043 points. A total of 159 issues traded on Tuesday. Of them, 66 gained, 68 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
— New Age

CSE closes lower
The price index at Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) closed lower today (Tuesday) though the gainers dominated the losers. The CSE All Share Price Index declined by 0.18 per cent to close at 3070.93 points from 3076.62 points on Monday. The CSE-30 Index, however, increased by 0.20 per cent to close at 2895.97 points from Monday’s 2889.96 points. Of the total 67 issues traded today, 34 gained, 21 declined and 12 remained unchanged. Some 350,640 shares and debentures worth Tk 3.37 crore changed hands today against 648,439 shares valued at Tk 5.17 crore on the previous trading day.
— UNB

Reverse repo
auction held
The Reverse repo auction for commercial banks and financial institutions was held at the Bangladesh Bank Tuesday. Four bids of 1-day tenor amounting to Tk 88 crore, one bid of 2-day tenor amounting to Tk 35 crore, two bids of 4-day tenor amounting to Tk 80 crore, five bids of 5-day tenor amounting to Tk 205 crore and one bid of 6-day tenor amounting to Tk 15 crore were received and accepted, said a Bangladesh Bank release. The rates of interest against the accepted bids were 4.50 per cent to 4.60 per cent per annum for 1-day tenor, 4.60 per cent per annum for 2-day tenor and 5.00 per cent per annum for 4-day, 5-day and 6-day tenor.
— UNB

Volvo 2nd-qtr truck orders fall 10pc
Volvo AB, Europe’s largest truckmaker, said second-quarter truck orders fell 10 per cent after months of surging sales stretched capacity. The stock posted its steepest decline in more than two years, falling from a record. ‘When order bookings are down today, then deliveries will be down tomorrow,’ said Michael Raab, an analyst with Sal Oppenheim in Frankfurt with a ‘neutral’’ rating on the stock. Second-quarter net income rose 40 per cent to 3.93 billion kronor ($502 million), or 9.67 kronor a share, from 2.81 billion kronor, or 6.65 kronor, a year earlier, Chief Executive Leif Johansson said today on a conference call.
— Bloomberg

Nissan’s profit dips on one-off charges
Nissan Motor said Tuesday its net profit fell 14.2 per cent in the June quarter due to one-off costs but revenue continued strong as it won sales in the Chinese and US markets and won back a following in Japan. Japan’s second-largest automaker said its net profit slipped to 105.70 billion yen (948.7 million dollars) from 123.23 billion yen a year earlier, largely due to changes in Japanese accounting standards and pension payments. If not for those one-off charges, the company’s net profit for the three months to June would have risen 4.1 per cent, said Nissan, pointing to double-digit gains in operating profit and sales. The period coincided with the departure from day-to-day guidance of Carlos Ghosn, Japan’s breakthrough foreign manager who was brought to Nissan in 1999 and turned it around from the brink of collapse.
— AFP

Hong Kong exports continue growth
Robust global economic growth, particularly in the United States and China, pushed Hong Kong exports up 12.6 per cent to 189.5 billion dollars (24.30 billion US) in June after a gain of 16.9 per cent in May, official figures showed Tuesday. Re-exports, mostly goods trans-shipped from China, rose 14.1 per cent to 179.4 billion dollars in June as domestic exports fell 8.6 per cent to 10.1 billion dollars. Imports grew 10.5 per cent to 196.5 billion dollars compared with a rise of 16 per cent in May. For the first half of 2005, exports rose 11.6 per cent with re-exports up 12.8 per cent and imports up 9.1 per cent. A government spokesman said exports rose markedly in June and there were across-the-board increases in nearly all markets, with double-digit growth in shipments to China, Japan, Taiwan and some European countries.
— AFP

Singapore manufacturing
growth 11.1pc
Singapore’s manufacturing output grew 11.1 per cent year-on-year in June, the government said Tuesday, a surprisingly strong number led by the city-state’s increasingly important biomedical sector. Economists had projected growth of just 0.9-3.0 per cent in June, after 2.0 per cent in May, in what was expected to be a continuation of Singapore’s lethargic economic performance this year after a strong 2004. However biomedical manufacturing, which grew by 40.8 per cent year-on-year in June, and transport engineering, up 35.1 per cent, provided an unexpected filip for the economy, according to the Economic Development Board’s monthly report.
— AFP

Honda to introduce luxury sedan to China
Japan’s No 3 car maker, Honda Motor co, announced yesterday that it will introduce the Acura, a luxury sedan car developed in North America, to China next year. The first Acura, to be sold in China from next spring, will be a 3.5-litre RL sedan, Honda said in a statement. This will be the first time the Acura has been sold outside of North America, Honda said. Honda Motor (China) Investment Co Ltd said that the company expects to sell 3,000 Acuras next year, rising to 10,000 to 15,000 vehicles annually within the next three years. The company will set up 10 exclusive dealerships for the Acura next year, with that number exceeding 30 over the next three years.
— AFP

Norsk Hydro energised by
high oil price
Norwegian energy conglomerate Norsk Hydro on Tuesday reported vastly improved results for the second quarter as earnings were boosted by high oil prices. Net profit rose 60.8 per cent to 3.57 billion Norwegian kroner (453 million euros) on a proforma basis, up from 2.22 billion a year earlier. Operating profit was up 35.7 per cent at 11.25 billion kroner, compared with 8.29 billion. ‘Hydro’s strong second quarter was characterized first and foremost by record-high oil prices,’ Norsk Hydro’s chief executive Eivind Reiten said in a statement. Norsk Hydro’s oil fetched 49.80 dollars per barrel on average in the second quarter on the world market, 44 per cent more than in the second quarter of 2004.
— AFP