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The government has started working on formulation of a new import policy as the existing one is set to expire in June 2006.
   The new one would be a revised or extended form of the Import Policy 2003-2006, now in operation, officials said.
   Country’s industrialists have sought more protections to local products in the upcoming import policy and suggested making import of finished and consumer goods tougher.
   Unnecessary imports of cheaper consumer goods have exposed local products to uneven competition in domestic market due to widely liberalised import policy, they pointed out.
   They warned if government fails to set an import policy friendly to local industry, the country’s fledgling small and medium enterprise sector will be ruined within next few years.
   Commerce ministry officials said the new policy would take care of the concerns aired by the local entrepreneurs, while trying to tailor the policy in line with the global trade rules.
   ‘We have started communications with trade bodies and other stakeholders, seeking their suggestions and demands for the new policy,’ said a senior official of the commerce ministry.
   Ministry officials said the government would discuss with economists and trade experts before making the primary draft of revised policy.
   ‘There has been an import frenzy in the country in recent times in every sector. Days are for traders now, not for industrialists,’ said Harun-Ur-Rashid, a director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
   Expressing concerns about the future of local industries including textiles and fabric manufacturing, Harun, the chairman of Asian Group of Industries, said the sector has been worst hit by the liberal import policy.
   ‘Imported fabrics have grabbed the market, threatening the survival of both labour-intensive and capital-intensive local units.’
   Harun, also president of the Bangladesh Gray and Finished Fabric Manufacturers Association, demanded that the government should raise import tariffs on textile products and offer other incentives to make local products more competitive.
   ‘Nothing is difficult here to bring from abroad, may be it is a screw-driver or a television set from China, cookeries from Iran or furniture from Italy,’ said Abdur Razzak, the president of the Bangladesh Engineering Industries Owners Association.
   ‘Small and medium industries are the worst sufferers in the face of imported goods flooding the local market. Some traders are benefiting from liberal import regime,’ he said.
   There should be a wide and extensive investigation and discussion among all stakeholders to work out an effective protection mechanism for the local industry, he said.
   ‘To my knowledge the import regime in Bangladesh is too liberal to match with that of most countries in the world,’ said Manzur Ahmed, an expert on trade issue.
   Manzur, also a former director of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, felt that imports of non-essential consumer goods should be more restricted.

The decision of two-day bonus holiday was taken to check the possibility of manipulation in the market amid low turnout of investors, a senior DSE executive said.
   The Dhaka Stock Exchange board of directors on Sunday decided to add November 2 and 6 to the official holidays for Shab-e-Qdr, Eid-ul-Fitr and National Day, stretching the vacation string to seven days from November 1 to 7.
   Insiders with vested interest might have take the chance for manipulation, as November 2 and 6— two working days caught in a series of holidays—would presumably see lower presence of investors, the DSE vice president, Ahmad Rashid Lali, said.
   The market went through normal ups and downs, due to share price variation in different sectors, but the overall situation was stable throughout the month of Ramadan, he said.
   Many investors have already switched over to banking stocks and are waiting for more lucrative corporate disclosures due by the yearend, Lali pointed out, analysing the market trend seen in the last couple of weeks.
   The country’s stock market lacks good shares and also the depth, said a member, who pointed to the loopholes in the DSE surveillance system in spotting manipulation.
   Disclosures have positive impacts on the market, helping investors to decide on the basis of companies’ health, the member added.
   However, on Monday, the last trading day before the seven-day vacation, the prime bourse witnessed declines in both volume and value of turnover, but indices and market capitalisation went up.
   Around 2.73 million shares and debentures worth Tk 20.77 crore were traded at the DSE, down from 2.83 million worth Tk 22.55 crore of Sunday.
   All share price index went up by 12.02 points or 0.94 per cent to close at 1285.56.
   DSE blue chips index, DSE 20, gained 9.99 points or 0.59 per cent to 1678.02, while DSE General Index rose by 15.34 points or 0.91 per cent to 1694.62.
   The market on Monday saw five companies recommending cash and stock dividends for 2004-05 fiscal year.
   Daffodil Computers Ltd recommended 12 per cent cash dividend, BDCom Online Ltd 10 per cent, Azadi Printer 10 per cent and Aftab Automobiles 20 per cent.
   Agni System Ltd recommended 10 per cent stock dividend.
   Apex Spinning and Knitting Mills and Alltex Industries Ltd reported net profit and Orion Infusion Ltd reported pre-tax profit.

The Bangladesh Bank Monday instructed the banks to count the profits or losses made in the investments in Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds on a weekly basis and publish it in their balance sheets, official sources said.
   The BB in its circular asked the banks to estimate the profits or losses on the basis of the price movements of the securities in the secondary bond market and disclose it on weekly basis for those intending to invest in the bond market.
   ‘This will help investors to know about the merit of the securities and take investment decisions,’ a senior BB official told the news agency requesting anonymity.
   He said despite launching of the secondary bond market in January 1, 2005, the public were little interested in investing in bonds. The weekly statement containing profit and loss accounts may generate interest among investors to put in money in the market, he added.
   The BB circular said the latest instruction on weekly balance sheets would take effect from February 1, 2006.
   ‘The inclusion of the profit or loss accounts against investments in bonds in the balance sheets of banks will be an indicator of the overall macro-economic management of the government,’ said another BB official.
   He said the BB instruction was also aimed at ensuring accountability and transparency in the trading of bonds in the secondary market. ‘This will also help banks to manage their assets more efficiently.’
   Presently, a total of seven securities are listed with the secondary bond market, which include two treasury bonds and five treasury bills.

Corruption and lack of facilities hamper production at home, while export of Bangladeshi items face a lot of non-tariff barriers in the global market, speakers told a seminar in Dhaka, dwelling on internal and external factors that retard the country's trade growth.
   They also expressed concerns over the prospect of Bangladeshi products entering into the international market, set to be
   regulated by stringent rules of the World Trade Organisation, seeking protection for local industries.
   The seminar titled 'market access barriers confronting LDC products' stressed the need for achieving competitiveness of products and services and also meeting compliance issues to integrate better into the rule-based global trading regime.
   Presenting a study report on the subject, trade researcher Mohammad Hossain pointed
   out that domestic non-tariff barriers to trade are higher in Bangladesh than those in other countries.
   He listed a number of emerging challenges, such as environmental standards for Bangladesh's exports.
   Suhel Ahmed, a former commerce secretary, cautioned that Bangladesh might lose duty preferences it currently enjoys if the WTO's Hong Kong ministerial reaches an agreement on zero tariff market access for non-agricultural products.
   'The erosion of 12.5 per cent duty on items from other countries will put Bangladesh in a precarious position. We have to look into it,' he added.
   Moderating the session, the president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sayeeful Islam, suggested that local industries should be supported with import subsidy in the next decade and effective linkages be developed between small and medium enterprises and multinational companies for export promotion.
   The commerce secretary, Faruk Ahmed Siddiqi, said
   the government with the
   help of trade chambers would conduct a study on effective utilisation of the cash subsidy now being provided against exports.
   'We have to conform our cash subsidy for exports with the WTO rules and also raise the level of our efficiency, so that we can compete in the global market efficiently,' he said.
   The vice chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau, Mir Shahabuddin Mohammad, stressed on changing mindset of the businesspeople in participating in the international fairs and overcoming the supply-side constraints by establishing proper facilities through public-private partnership.
   He also emphasised on projecting proper image of the country in the international arena to help promote Bangladeshi products.
   Alamgir Farrouk Chowdhury, a former commerce secretary, suggested that businesspeople should become well conversant with the issue of certification required for exports, while Liakat Ali from Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution assured all assistance in disseminating relevant information.
   The senior vice-president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Manzur-Ur-Rahman Ruskin, was present, among others, at the seminar.

Total turnover in the Asian owned stores in London, mostly in the east side, stands at £60 billion a year, with the traders expecting a further boom this year because of a shopping spree ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festivals.
   Lion part of the turnover usually comes from festival shoppers from both Muslim and Hindu communities.
   The traders said sales in the London shops, especially in the East end side, have shot up by 50 per cent, as shoppers, mainly from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan started to throng the markets ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, the greatest festival of the Muslim community.
   The shopping spree also comes ahead of the Diwali, the biggest festival of the Hindu community, on Monday.
   The retailers of garment, jewellery, shoe, firework and stationary items are witnessing a tremendous growth in their sales, with a month left for the Christmas, because of the festivals of the Muslim and Hindu communities.
   Shops at the East end side always lag behind the stores in other parts of London.
   But this time, East end’s shops, especially in White Chapel, where 80 per cent are owned by Bangladeshis and other Asian countries, are witnessing significant growth in sales.

An abnormal rush of the individual taxpayers was noticed at all circles under zonal tax offices in the country, to submit their return on the last two days of the deadline that ended Monday.
   Tax officials made a special arrangement from October 30 to facilitate the taxpayers to speed up for return submission in different zonal tax offices and also kept the offices open up to 5:00pm Monday.
   National Board of Revenue estimated that the number of individual taxpayers in the country this year would be nine lakh, but the number of returns submitted might not reach the target.
   A member (Income Tax policy) of NBR, Zahir Mohammed, said submission of tax return rate is high in last two days in all tax offices.
   He said, 'We expect that individual taxpayer increased by 15 to 20 per cent during the current financial year.'
   Referring to the taxpayers at his office at tax zone-4, assistant tax commissioner Tariqul Alam Chowdhury termed it a 'Return Mela'.
   Belal Uddin, the additional tax commissioner in tax zone-4, said taxpayers faced some problems initially due to incorporating income, asset and expenditure statements in tax returns of this year.
   He said the government officials having taxable income had to pay the tax from their pockets this year and submit the returns with the receipts of the payment for the first time.
   The money can be reimbursed within 90 days.
   One of the election officials who submitted his tax return in tax zone-4 Monday said, 'it is our culture that we wait to finish out work for the last moment.'
   The previous last date for submission of return was September 30.
   But the NBR extended it after repeated requests from different trade bodies.
   At present there are more than 17.5 lakh Tax Identification Number holders in the country. Of them, only seven lakh (48 per cent) TIN holders submitted their income tax returns last year.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, urged Brunei to invest in the potential sectors in Bangladesh and requested its government to increase the number of scholarships for Bangladeshi students.
   The president made the request when the high commissioner of Brunei, Dato Paduka Haji Abul Mokti Bin Haji Hohd Daud, made a farewell call on him at Bangabhaban on Monday.
   Iajuddin thanked the high commissioner for his successful tenure in Bangladesh and his contributions to the strengthening of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Brunei.
   He expressed hope that Brunei would recruit more Bangladeshi doctors, engineers, teachers and other professionals to meet the growing requirements of their economy.
   He expressed satisfaction at the existing bilateral relations and conveyed his best wishes to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and invited him to visit Bangladesh.
   The outgoing commissioner of Brunei mentioned that the relations between Brunei and Bangladesh were excellent.
   He stated that both the countries have commonality of views on major regional and international issues such as, in the UN, OIC, NAM and particularly, pertaining to those to the welfare of the Muslim Ummah.

The Dubai-based Emirates Airlines marked its 20th anniversary on October 25, said a press release.
   The Emirates' chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said, 'There's a sense that the airline has
   'come of age and with its solid grounding is ready to take on even bigger challenges as a leading player in global air transport.'
   The Emirates at present operates close to 200 scheduled flights per day around its network, which covers 77 cities in 54 countries.
   The airlines, based in Dubai, hones its skills and abilities to stay at the cutting-edge of customer service.
   The airlines currently with 15,800 employees would be launching services to new cities and would increase the flight frequencies to more than 30 existing destinations.

Two apex trade bodies of Bangladesh and Georgia have signed a memorandum of understanding to tap the potential of expanding cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries.
   The president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mir Nasir Hossain and the president of Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jemal Inaishvili, signed the agreement for their respective sides during the 70th Council Meeting of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Asia Business Forum on October 27-28 in Tabilisi, Georgia, said a press release.
   The cooperation agreement between FBCCI and GCCI consists of five articles, aimed at fostering cooperation between the two sides.

Inpace Management Services Limited is going to organise a two-day Job Fair-2005 on November 18 at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre.
   According to a press release, the fair would be expecting to draw around 50,000 visitors, where the major Bangladeshi employers are expected to participate.
   IMSL provides myriad management and marketing services to Hewlett-Packard and Intel in Bangladesh.
   To create awareness among the visitors, the organisation will arrange promotion and information campaign at the leading educational institutions.

The head of the World Trade Organisation said Sunday that a new European Union offer to cut farm tariffs, already criticised by major trading partners, was serious and deserved consideration.
   Pascal Lamy welcomed recent moves by both the EU and the United States on agricultural trade issues.
   ‘Europe and the United States are moving on farm issues. This is good news,’ Lamy told France’s LCI television in an interview.
   ‘It’s been a long time that this hasn’t happened. This is what allows the rest of the negotiations to be unblocked.’
   He said Friday’s EU proposal on farm goods was ‘a serious offer which merits serious discussions’. The EU is offering to nearly halve its average tariff on agricultural imports to just over 12 per cent.
   The European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, said on Saturday that ‘Europe’s final offer’ represented a middle-ground solution for trade talks, but it failed to impress the 25-nation bloc’s international trading partners.
   The United States, Brazil and Australia demanded more concessions, while Africans said the offer fell short of what was needed to break a deadlock in negotiations.
   The World Trade Organisation’s 148 members are due to meet in December in Hong Kong to try and agree on a blueprint for a new global trade deal.
   The EU’s executive Commission has been caught between demands for more concessions by big trading partners, such as the United States, and staunch French opposition to weakening protection for farmers.
   The head of France’s main farm union on Sunday called the new EU proposal a provocation, and said the French government should stand up against it.
   France has protested vociferously over Mandelson’s handling of the trade talks, accusing him of making too many concessions and overstepping the negotiating mandate given him by the bloc.
   The French president, Jacques Chirac, said on Thursday that Paris might veto a deal if Brussels went any further.
   Lamy said agriculture was only one of many subjects for the trade talks, noting that progress on a farm deal was important but not sufficient.
   The trade talks had to succeed ‘to adjust global trade regulation to the rules of Monday’s world, and so that this opening of trade happens under fair conditions’, he said.
   ‘If that does not happen, it is bad news for trade, and therefore for growth, and for reducing poverty,’ Lamy said.

China’s trade surplus is on track to almost triple this year to around $90 billion, but export growth will lose steam next year amid rising trade tensions, the government said.
   ‘China’s exports have maintained fast growth for four successive years and it’s difficult to keep up such high growth due to the limitations of global markets and also trade protectionism,’ the Commerce Ministry’s think-tank said in a report seen Monday.
   China’s exports and imports are expected to total $1.6 trillion in 2006, rising 15 per cent from this year, the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation said in its report.
   Foreign complaints and curbs on trade affected $8.9 billion of exports in the first nine months of this year, it said.
   ‘China is the biggest victim of trade protectionism ..., and such a trend won’t show a fundamental change next year,’ it said.
   The official Xinhua news agency said trade strains were behind a 10 per cent drop, to $2.46 billion, in the value of textile deals struck during the annual two-week Canton fair that ended at the weekend.
   Orders for textile exports to the United States dropped 44 per cent from last year to $310 million.
   Many manufacturers and purchasers were cautious about signing deals because China was still locked in talks with the US over export curb.
   The think-tank forecast China’s exports would rise an annual 26 per cent this year to $745 billion while imports would rise 18 per cent to $655 billion, producing a trade surplus of about $90 billion.

Saudi Arabia is preparing to become the 149th member of the World Trade Organisation after a negotiating group gave the green light in principle to the oil giant’s accession to the organisation.
   The assistant oil minister, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, a member of the Saudi delegation which won the WTO working party’s go-ahead in Geneva Friday, called it ‘an important and final step on the road to Saudi accession.
   ‘All that remains for a formal announcement is the (approval of the ruling) General Council during a meeting on November 11,’ he told the news agency Sunday.
   ‘Saudi Arabia will attend the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong on December 13 as a full-fledged member of the organisation,’ Prince Abdul Aziz said.
   The working party’s approval all but brought to a close more than a decade of painstaking efforts by Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil producer and exporter, to join the WTO.
   Nations in the 148-member WTO set global rules to ease trade among themselves.
   A country wishing to join must first offer market opening concessions to its main trading partners, including cutting customs duties. The accords it reaches in bilateral talks are subsequently widened to all other WTO members.
   The candidate must then make a commitment to ensure its trade legislation complies with all WTO rules as the last step before actually becoming a member.

Authorities in Beijing plan to spend $4.8 billion on new roads to ease the gridlock brought on by booming car ownership, state media reported Monday.
   Over the next five years, more than 360 kilometres of new expressways will be constructed, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Beijing Capital Road Development Company Limited.
   The city’s traffic chaos caused mainly by the large number of cars but compounded by bad driving and a lack of respect for rules and law enforcers, is a growing concern as it prepares to host the Olympics in 2008.

The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, tweaked his top economic team Monday in a move seen as bolstering his reform drive, naming a new trade minister just weeks ahead of key global trade liberalisation talks.
   As part of a wider cabinet reshuffle, Koizumi reappointed Sadakazu Tanigaki to the key post of finance minister but made several other changes.
   Former transport minister Toshihiro Nikai, a heavyweight in Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and his chief election strategist for last month’s snap polls, was named minister for economy, trade and industry.
   Heizo Takenaka retained the position of postal privatisation minister and was additionally appointed as internal affairs and communications minister in a reshuffle seen as favouring reformists.
   Shoichi Nakagawa was moved from trade minister to the post of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, another key role in World Trade Organisation trade talks, in which the issue of agriculture has been a key sticking point.
   A pressing task for Nikai, the new trade minister, is preparation for a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong December 13-18, with parties struggling to reach a deal liberalising global trade.
   Japan is renowned for its strong support for its farming industry and has rejected a US proposal to introduce a tariff cap of 75 per cent. It also says an offer by Washington to reduce US subsidies by 60 per cent is insufficient.
   Koizumi, who recently won a landslide election on a platform for economic reform, urged the new cabinet members to pursue his drive to slim down Japan’s bloated government.

With coal fetching sky-high prices, mining companies should be making money as fast as they can dig it out of the ground and ship it to customers.
   But not when there is a shortage of skilled miners, and the railroads are backed up.
   That’s what Massey Energy Co, one of the big four US coal companies, has discovered.
   ‘We are concerned with the lack of performance in productivity, but we understand the challenges,’ the chairman and chief executive, Don Blankenship, told analysts on a conference call on Friday. ‘I try not to be depressed, keep an even keel and work day to day to deal with them.’
   His comments came after the Richmond, Virginia-based company reported a healthy third-quarter profit on Thursday on strong pricing for coal. But at the same time, it said production is struggling to keep pace with demand.
   Earlier, Massey had warned earnings would fall short of estimates because of lower shipping volumes and higher costs, in part due to fuel price hikes after Hurricane Katrina.
   The company also cautioned it faced profit problems this year because of rail delivery disruptions that would keep it, like many of its competitors, from shipping as much coal as it could produce from the older Central Appalachian coalfields of Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia.
   On Friday, the company’s stock slumped as much as 14 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange, following the release of its results and a Merrill Lynch downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy.’
   The shares rallied later in the day, but still closed down 6.39 per cent at $40.00 on the NYSE.
   Analyst Ian Synnott of Natexis Bleichroeder, an equity brokerage, said the Appalachia region was affected by a shortage of skilled labour after years of declining mines.
   Suddenly with a surge in industrial use ranging from steelmakers’ need for coking coal to power stations’ appetite for steam coal, there were not enough miners to handle the demand.
   For two years, railroads serving the eastern coalfields have struggled to handle increased traffic while carrying out essential track maintenance. In addition, with expanded global mining, not only for coal, but copper, gold and other metals, there is a critical shortage of heavy equipment and tires.
   Then there is the increased cost of diesel fuel, which mining companies need to run their operations and truck the coal out to the railroads.
   ‘The biggest reason for our cost increases is the diesel fuel price explosion—from 84 cents (a gallon) to $2.60 to $2.70,’ Blankenship said.
   Asked on the conference call about the labour situation, he said: ‘There is a lack of experienced workers, so we are training them ourselves, which helps cut costs.

A Japanese scientific panel Monday recommended lifting a ban on the US and Canadian beef imports imposed over mad cow disease fears, in a major step toward ending a trade dispute between Tokyo and Washington, reports said.
   Jiji Press and Kyodo News said imports of US and Canadian beef were likely to resume in December after public hearings and final government approval.
   US farm-state senators have threatened retaliatory trade sanctions unless Japan, formerly the biggest importer
   of US beef, lifts the ban which it imposed in December 2003.

Impoverished Niger has joined the ranks of Africa’s gold producers, exporting nearly three tonnes in
   2005, according to figures released Monday by the mines ministry.
   Revenues from the production at the Samira Hill mine, some 150 kilometres southwest of the capital Niamey, earned revenues of more than 32 million euros ($38.4 million) for the arid nation, which holds the bottom rung on the UN’s Human Development Index.
   The state of Niger holds a 20-per cent share in the mine, a 27-million dollar
   joint venture with Canadian giant Etruscan Resources launched in 2004 with backing from the African Development Bank.
   Etruscan has estimated that Samira Hill, Niger’s first commercial open-pit mine will yield some 6,18,000 ounces of gold over its six-year life, with some 1,20,000 ounces expected this year.Impoverished Niger has joined the ranks of Africa’s gold producers, exporting nearly three tonnes in 2005, according to figures released Monday by the mines ministry.
   Revenues from the production at the Samira Hill mine, some 150 kilometres southwest of the capital Niamey, earned revenues of more than 32 million euros ($38.4 million) for the arid nation, which holds the bottom rung on the UN’s Human Development Index.
   The state of Niger holds a 20-per cent share in the mine, a 27-million dollar
   joint venture with Canadian giant Etruscan Resources launched in 2004 with backing from the African Development Bank.
   Etruscan has estimated that Samira Hill, Niger’s first commercial open-pit mine will yield some 6,18,000 ounces of gold over its six-year life, with some 1,20,000 ounces expected this year.

Apex Knitting profit drops
   As per un-audited accounts for the half year ended September 30, Apex Spinning and Knitting Mills Ltd reported net profit of Tk 2.28 crore as against Tk 2.36 crore of the year-ago period. The company also reported a positive earning per share of Tk 27.20.
   
   Alltex profit up
   As per audited accounts for the year ended June 30, Alltex Industries Ltd reported net profit of Tk 1.68 crore as against Tk 1.44 crore of last year. The company also reported a positive earning of Tk 3.50 per share.
   
   Orion Infusion sees profit rise
   As per audited accounts for the year ended June 30, Orion Infusion Ltd reported pre-tax profit of Tk 1.17 crore, up from Tk 73.5 lakh last year. The company also reported a positive per share earning of Tk 5.76 (based on NPBT).
   Daffodil offers 12pc dividend
   Daffodil Computers Ltd has recommended 12 per cent cash dividend for the year ended June 30. The company will hold its annual general meeting on December 22 in Dhaka. Record date is on November 30. There will be no price limit on the trading of the company’s shares on November 8.
   
   BDCom to give 10pc dividend
   BDCom Online Ltd has recommended 10 per cent cash dividend for the year through June 30. Its AGM is scheduled for December 20 in Dhaka. Book closure is from November 24 to December 20. There will be no price limit on the trading of the company’s shares on November 8.
   
   Agani, Azadi Printers propose 10pc dividend
   Agni System Ltd has recommended 10 per cent stock dividend for the year 2004- 2005. The company will hold its AGM on December 19 in Dhaka. Record Date is on November 24.
   Azadi Printer reported has recommended 10 per cent cash dividend for the year 2004-05.
   
   Aftab Auto recommends 20pc dividend
   Aftab Automobiles has recommended 20 per cent cash dividend for the year 2004-05. Its AGM is scheduled for December 21 and record date is on November 30. There will be no price limit on the trading of the company’s shares on November 8.
   
   DSE to return to pre-Ramadan timing
   As per decision of the DSE board of directors, trading will be back to pre-Ramadan usual schedule and will start at 10.00 am and continue till 2.00 pm after it opens on November 8, ending eid vacation.

Bottled water of WASA to hit market next Jan
Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority will market bottled water from the next January to ensure the availability of pure water across the country including Dhaka. The decision was taken at a meeting on the progress of last three months of the current financial year at the conference room of the ministry with LGRD and cooperatives minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in the chair. LGRD and cooperatives minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan ordered the WASA authorities to market the bottled water without any more delay. During the meeting he also gave directive to the WASA authorities to conserve the canals retrieved from the encroachers in the capital. Secretary of the ministry AHM Abul Kashem, LGED chief engineer Shahidul Hasan, chief engineer of the Directorate of Public Health Engineering Khorshed Alam, representatives of the different organisations including Dhaka WASA managing director Dr. Kazi Ali Azam were also present at the meeting.
— BDNEWS

DSE closes
higher
Trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange closed higher on Monday with the gainers dominating the losers. The DSE All Share Price Index decreased by 12.0198 points or 0.9438 per cent to close at 1,285.5566 points. A total of 159 issues traded on Monday. Of them, 109 gained, 32 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
— New Age

CSE up on
Monday
Trading at Chittagong Stock Exchange closed higher Monday with the gainers outnumbering the losers. The CSE All Share Price Index increased by 0.88 per cent to close at 3410.21 points from 3380.30 points on Sunday. The CSE-30 Index also rose by 1.04 per cent to close at 3224.12 points from Sunday’s 3190.92 points. A total of 60 issues traded on Monday. Of them, 47 gained, 10 declined and three remained unchanged. Some 1,622,948 shares and debentures worth Tk 5.28 crore changed hands today against 1,094,070 shares valued at Tk 4.35 crore on the previous trading day.
— UNB

Reverse repo auctions held
Bangladesh Bank Monday settled three bids of 2-day term worth Tk 115 crore in reverse repo auctions for the banks and financial institutions, a statement said. The interest rate against the accepted bids was 5.5 per cent per annum. A total of three bids were submitted and BB accepted all of them.
— BDNEWS

ABN Amro surprises with quarterly
profit surge
The Dutch bank ABN Amro reported on Monday that net profit in the third quarter had surged to 1.204 billion euros from 892.0 million euros in the same period of last year. The profit figure was higher than had been expected by analysts questioned by AFX, the financial news subsidiary of the news agency. They had expected net profit to be 727.0-778.0 million euros. Net earnings per share rose to 0.65 euros from 0.54 euros. Company chairman Rijkman Groenink said that given these results in the third quarter, the board expected net profit for the second half of 2005, excluding exceptional items, to at least match that in the first half of the year which amounted to 1.88 billion euros.
— AFP

Novartis to buy rest of Chiron for
vaccines
Novartis AG, Europe’s second-largest drugmaker by market value, agreed to buy Chiron Corp., a US vaccine maker recovering from a manufacturing shutdown, for $45 a share in cash after its first offer was rejected as ‘inadequate.’ Novartis, which owns 42.2 per cent of Emeryville, California- based Chiron, is offering about $5.1 billion for the 113 million shares it doesn’t own, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said on Monday in an e-mailed statement. Chiron, whose board is backing on Monday’s offer, rejected Novartis’s Sept. 1 bid of $40 a share. The purchase will allow Novartis to add treatments for flu and cancer, and enter a vaccines market that Lehman Brothers analysts say may reach $10.4 billion by 2007. Novartis stock has been the second-worst performing of Europe’s five biggest pharmaceuticals companies since January, and Chief Executive Daniel Vasella may spend as much as $13 billion this year to add products.
— Bloomberg

Hong Kong gold closes lower
Hong Kong gold prices closed lower Monday at 471.80-472.30 US dollars an ounce, compared to Friday’s close of 474.10-474.60 dollars. The market opened at 472.50-473.00 dollars.
— AFP

Suzuki lifts FY forecasts on solid Q2
Japanese compact car maker Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T) booked a solid rise in quarterly profits on Monday and lifted its full-year forecasts as expected to account for a weaker yen and the sale of more high-priced vehicles. Suzuki, held one-fifth by General Motors Corp, had initially forecast a sharp drop in operating profit for the year to next March citing a 70 per cent jump in capital spending and a stronger dollar, but now expects a slight rise in what would mark a sixth straight year of record profits. For the year to next March, Suzuki now projects an operating profit of 108 billion yen instead of 90 billion yen, and net profit of 61 billion yen, not 48 billion yen. Suzuki said the new Swift, its strategic compact car model built in Hungary, Japan, China and India, had got off to a good start, with cumulative sales of 150,000 units at the end of September — far more than it predicted.
— Reuters

Canada to press on US over Softwood
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said on Sunday his government would continue to press the US to respect a NAFTA ruling ordering Washington to drastically cut duties on imported Canadian softwood. ‘We’re going to continue to press our case with the United States. We’ll do so respectfully but we’re not going to let up,’ Martin said in a two-minute broadcast aired on 28 private radio stations across Canada Sunday morning. ‘If we have to go to court to get what’s rightfully ours, we will.’ Martin said.’If we have to keep pressuring the Americans, we will. It’s just too important to do otherwise.’ On Friday, the US Department of Commerce said it needs clarification on the order of the North American Free Trade Agreement that America should eliminate countervail duties on the Canadian softwood. Friday was deadline for Washington to respond to the latest NAFTA ruling made on Oct 5. Sunday’s broadcast will be Martin’s first of a weekly radio addresses.And the airtime would be paid by the Liberal Party.
— Xinhuanet