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The finance and commerce adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, on Monday asked the readymade garment manufacturers to list their companies with the stock exchange to accumulate capital for expanding their factories to meet the growing international demand.
   ‘Please go to the stock market to raise funds,’ he told a meeting organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, summarily rejecting the garment sector’s leaders’ plea for tax exemption so that they can re-invest the profit to expand the garment factories.
   The discussion was organised to present a research report on ‘Bangladesh’s Apparel Sector in Post-MFA (Multi-Fibre Arrangement) Period: A Benchmarking Study on the Ongoing Restructuring Process’. The private think-tank conducted the study in collaboration with the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility, a multi-donor initiative.
   The study found that industrial cost of production increased by 21 per cent in 2005 after the quota was phased out, the while labour cost in the enterprises that were surveyed rose by about 13 per cent, while the price of garments fell by around 6 per cent.
   Despite the recent fall in the number of buyers’ orders, the president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, AKM Fazlul Haque, was optimistic that they would receive a much higher number of orders from this month onward, and said that the entire industry would need to scale up its productivity to become competitive in the global market.
   The global garment market has increased from $100 billion to $300 billion in the last four years, said the centre’s executive director, Debapriya Bhattacharya, while explaining the opportunities and risks for Bangladesh’s plus $9 billion industry.
   Matin Chowdhury, an expert on the textiles industry, stressed the need for doubling the number of shifts for the time being to meet the increasing number of international orders for garments, since the setting up of garment factories involves huge cost and long time.
   In response to the businessmen’s recommendation to improve the country’s business image, the adviser assured them that Bangladesh embassies would be asked to play an effective role in this respect. He also stressed the need for ensuring compliance in the apparel sector for its survival in the coming days.
   A one-unit rise in wages in the country’s readymade garment enterprises could result in enhanced labour productivity by 1.3 units, revealed the research report, presented by the centre’s research fellow, Khandakar Golam Moazzem.
   The report said that highly compliant factories were 57 per cent more productive compared to less compliant enterprises, and 65 per cent more productive compared to moderately compliant enterprises.
   The president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, was of the view that productivity in some compliant factories had fallen because the supervisors there could not ‘shout’ at workers to do their job more swiftly.
   Some 190 garment units in Dhaka, its immediate vicinity and Chittagong, were taken as samples in the study conducted between 2005 and 2006 to find out whether Bangladesh’s RMG sector would be able to realise the potential opportunities and address the attendant challenges.
   Labour productivity of enterprises in the Export Processing Zones was found to be 9 per cent higher than non-EPZ enterprises, and it was 27 per cent higher in foreign direct investment-funded enterprises compared to non-FDI enterprises.
   ‘A high labour productivity in large EPZ and FDI-led enterprises is the resultant effect of their strong market linkage, state of technology, scale of operation, use of skilled workforces and possibly better compliance standards at the factory level,’ said the report.
   One of the members of the research team, Mustafizur Rahman, mentioned that the ‘level of retention’ from manufacturing garments in Bangladesh had now increased to 45 cents from 38 cents in 1997.
   Jute and textiles secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar, Dipak Adhinary of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility, and trade union leaders Shahidullah Chowdhury, Masuda Akhtar Shefali and Najma Akhtar also spoke on the occasion.

Three local bidders have started examining financial and physical conditions of Oriental Bank before they firm up financial offers for stakes in the beleaguered private bank.
   The three — Summit group, BRAC Bank and Domestic Investors Consortium — engaged chartered accountants’ firms to inspect the books and assess the financial health of the bank, put under direct management of Bangladesh Bank. The bank has set up three data centres to assist the inspection teams.
   The bidders will get 15 days from Sunday to complete the financial assessments and another three weeks to make final financial offers for sponsor shares valued at Tk 400 crore.
   Three foreign bidders, a Malaysian financial group, Sri Lanka-based Hatton National Bank and UK-based East Invest Private Equity Limited, will start their inspection from October 29.
   Central bank officials are expecting good returns from the offer, which has already shown signs of tough competition among the bidders to take over the bank.
   The handover is expected by the end of this year, a central bank official said. If the amount exceeds Tk 400 crore, the additional money would be considered as premium. Investors are likely to buy the shares at a premium as the central bank is not going to issue licence for any new bank soon, said the official.
   The bank will also issue shares to depositors proportionately, ranging from 10 per cent to 25 per cent of the deposits.
   In the bank, general depositors have around Tk 1,150 crore, government Tk 400 crore, private banks Tk 350 crore, financial institutions Tk 90 crore, insurance companies Tk 16 crore and local authorities Tk 7 crore.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered said its recent purchase of American Express Bank speeds up its wealth management rollout by about three years as it aims to employ about 450 private bankers.
   ‘We’ll have to execute well but if you look at the two organisations it’s an incredibly good fit,’ Peter Flavel, head of Standard Chartered private banking business, said at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit.
   The AEB deal meets most of the bank’s ‘Phase-II’ objectives, such as providing booking centres, discretionary portfolio management and trustee companies, he said.
   Standard Chartered launched its private banking business in 10 locations in seven countries in Asia and the Middle East earlier this year. It is targeting a pool of high net worth individuals estimated at about 3 million, about a third of the global total.
   The private banking launch, one of the biggest ever globally, gave the bank 150 relationship managers. The AEB deal adds another 120, taking the unit closer to its goal of 350-450 relationship managers in three to four years, Flavel said.
   Standard Chartered announced last month it was buying AEB for about 860 million dollars.

The general index at Dhaka Stock Exchange on Monday went up to a new high of 2762.37 points amid buying rush of the investors just a day ahead of the bourse’s Eid closure.
   A DSE stock broker said investors’ rush in buying shares pushed up the stock prices for the third consecutive trading day on Monday.
   DSE general index gained 26.43 points or 0.97 per cent. The bourse’s benchmark index crossed 2700-point mark for the first time on Sunday.
   The bourse’s blue chips index, DSE20, advanced by 29.56 points or 1.41 per cent to close at 2129.18.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index gained 42.96 points or 0.96 per cent to close at 4497.15, while its blue chips index, CSE30, advanced by 72.91 points or 1.16 per cent to close at 6342.81.
   Of the total 215 issues traded at the DSE, 136 posted gains, 68 declined and 11 remained unchanged, and out of 117 issues traded at the CSE, 73 advanced, 36 dipped and eight remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the DSE also increased to Tk 244.63 crore from the Sunday’s Tk 232.96 crore.
   CSE turnover, however, went down marginally to Tk 32.30 crore from the previous day’s Tk 34.49 crore.
   BRAC Bank topped the turnover leaders at the DSE with total transaction of Tk 19.15 crore.
   The Dhaka Stock Exchange has initiated an investigation to find out reasons behind the recent unusual share price surge of Lexco Ltd, a low-profile ‘Z’ category share, said officials.
   ‘Market monitoring wing of the bourse is working to dig out the reasons behind the volatility in the share price of the company, said DSE chief executive officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan.
   He said DSE on Monday halted the trading in the shares of Lexco from 12:30pm to facilitate the market enquiry. The bourse also kept halted the trading of the tannery company for couple of hours on Sunday, he said.
   ‘The company, however, has informed us that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information behind the recent rise in its share price,’ DSE chief executive said.
   The share price of Lexco shot up to Tk148 on Monday from Tk104.50 on October 2, DSE statistics show. The face value of the share of the company is Tk 100 each.
   He said trading of the shares of Raspit Incorporation BD Ltd was also halted on Monday for market enquiry.

Sri Lanka began road-shows on Monday to sell its first overseas bond issue as ratings agency Fitch warned that a worsening of the island’s ethnic conflict could lead to a credit downgrade.
   Barclays Capital, HSBC and JP Morgan, which are lead managers to Sri Lanka’s maiden 500 million dollars 10-year junk-rated bond issue, said in a joint statement they had begun marketing the debt in Europe, Asia and North America.
   The investment houses did not say where the road-shows would start but Sri Lanka’s central bank said they would be staged in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and North America.
   The announcement of the road-show came as international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings warned that if the ethnic conflict racking the tropical island grew more severe it could ‘affect Sri Lanka’s credit fundamentals’ and ‘lead to a downgrade.’
   More than 5,400 people have died since December 2005 when a Norwegian-backed 2002 truce began to unravel.
   The bond issue carries a ‘junk bond’ or below investment grade rating of BB minus from Fitch Ratings, which also warned the government to lower inflation and contain lavish spending plans.
   Sri Lanka’s inflation is running at 17.3 per cent, public debt is at a hefty 93 per cent of gross domestic product and interest payments absorb almost a third of government revenues, Fitch said.
   ‘Steering inflation back down to a single digit will be essential for sustaining strong economic growth and containing the government’s debt service costs,’ the agency said.
   But on a positive note, despite the more than three-decade-old conflict, Sri Lanka’s economy has shown ‘remarkable resilience’ and the nation has an unblemished debt service record, a rare trait among sub-investment grade sovereigns,’ noted Fitch.
   The island’s 26-billion dollar economy is on track to record 7.5 per cent growth this year, the fastest since 1978 when it grew by 8.2 per cent, economists say.
   The strong growth is being driven by a booming services sector, led by telecommunications.
   The rapid GDP growth comes despite the escalating clashes between troops and Tamil rebels who are fighting for a separate homeland.

The Arroyo administration may upgrade its economic growth forecasts for this year and 2008 as well as review other economic indicators to factor in the stronger-than-expected output so far, the government’s chief economist said.
   Acting Economic Planning secretary Augusto Santos told reporters on Friday that there was a need for the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee to review economic growth, inflation and even the peso-dollar assumptions for 2007 and 2008 based on recent developments.
   He said it would be possible to ‘adjust higher’ the gross domestic product target of 6.1-6.7 per cent for this year.
   GDP, the single most closely watched economic indicator, refers to the total amount of goods and services produced by the domestic economy in a given period.

European Union finance ministers open two days of talks Monday to discuss the United States’ slowing economy, feeble dollar and massive current account deficit as major problems for the EU and the rest of the world.
   Europe is starting to feel the bite as the US dollar plummets, making French wine, Italian fashion and German cars expensive purchases for the EU’s main export market in the US.
   Last week, the employers federation BusinessEurope said that, by crossing 1.40 against the US dollar, the euro exchange rate had reached a ‘pain threshold’ for European companies. It also complained the euro was appreciating too fast against the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.
   While echoing their concern, the finance ministers of the 13 euro-zone nations will reiterate Europe is an innocent victim of others and that the euro-dollar exchange rate issue is part of a broader set of problems triggered by China’s trade surplus and America’s huge debts that require concerted steps to undo.
   Luxembourg’s prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, set the tone last week when he said the Europeans should not have to bear the consequences of other countries’ inaction.
   Finance ministers from all 27 EU nations on Tuesday will lift a caution for London that was imposed when it ran a budget deficit above the EU’s recommended 3 per cent of gross domestic product. The recent economic surge should allow Britain to cut that to 2.4 per cent in the 2008-09 financial year.
   The Czech Republic will see its budget warning stepped up, as it is told to cut its deficit to zero within five years. This year, the deficit is likely to overrun a forecast of 3.3 per cent as it counts the cost of higher social welfare spending by the previous government. The country needs to get well below 3 per cent to join the euro as Prague plans for 2012.
   Since the currency’s launch in 2002, the European Commission has urged the nations that use the euro to do more to coordinate their economic moves and cut spending. It says the euro is already paying off because the euro-zone has become more resilient to outside shocks, such as last year’s oil price spikes.
   But the possibilities of a worsening US slowdown, higher oil prices and tighter borrowing conditions could all risk derailing Europe’s first bloom of growth after several years of stagnancy.
   The EU executive sees a more uncertain future in the months ahead, downgrading a forecast for the economy to grow this year from 2.6 per cent to 2.5 per cent after global financial turmoil sparked by mounting bad loans to US homeowners.
   To help remedy the risk of a financial crisis, it is calling for more scrutiny of how banks repackage and sell loans — particularly those made to people with no money, job or assets — as investments that were rated as sound by credit rating agencies Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. EU finance ministers will set out their line on these measures before a meeting of G-7 and International Monetary Fund finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Washington later this month.
   Unlike the dollar or the yen — or even the British pound — the euro does not have its own representative at global economy talks, so euro nations and the EU executive try to thrash out their views ahead of time. Euro members France, Germany and Italy take part in the selective G-7 talks with the United States, Japan, Canada and non-euro Britain.

South Korea and Southeast Asian nations have reached a free trade deal on services, raising the possibility of finalising free trade talks by the end of this year, South Korea’s foreign affairs and trade ministry said Monday.
   South Korea, Asia’s third-largest economy, and nine of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been discussing to complete free trade talks on services and investment by year’s end.
   The proposed free trade agreement between South Korea and ASEAN consists of four accords on merchandise, services, investment and dispute settlement, according to Yonhap News Agency. In June this year, their free trade deal on merchandise came into force. a Thailand was left out of the merchandise free trade deal due to differences over the proposed rice market opening. But the country came back to the negotiation table with South Korea in April, the ministry said.
   South Korea’s trade with ASEAN, its fifth-largest trading partner, reached 53.5 billion dollars in 2005.

Australia will take part in a WTO investigation, as a third party, into the complaints that China is failing to enforce intellectual property rights properly.
   ‘Australia would take part in the investigation as a third party, after several other WTO members including Mexico, Japan and the EU,’ Australian trade minister Warren Truss was quoted as saying in the ‘The Age’ newspaper.
   The United States recently initiated a case through the World Trade Organisation against China, arguing that its laws did not properly combat infringement of intellectual property and the country has been too slow to deal with the issue.
   Percieving that the criminal sanctions in China on pirated copyright good or counterfeit products were inadequate a host of WTO members, including Mexico, Japan and the European Union, have also joined in the WTO investigation as third parties.
   But China has argued, it has already increased efforts to fight the problem by dropping the threshold on the number of counterfeit or pirated goods that can be produced or sold before criminal sanctions apply.
   Truss said the case raised important commercial issues in relation to WTO rules on intellectual property protection, including the meaning of counterfeiting or piracy ‘on a commercial scale’.
   But in a bid to protect Australia’s close and growing relationship with China, Truss said, ‘Participation as a third party does not mean we are taking sides in the case.’ Instead it allowed Australia to register its views on the legal issues, he said, pointing out that China itself had been a third party more than 40 times since joining the WTO in 2001.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday that the rate of US economic growth was slowing, but the odds of a recession are less than 50 per cent.
   Greenspan also said in an interview on CNN’s ‘Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer’ that the turmoil caused by the sub-prime mortgage crisis was easing and financial markets were beginning to go back to normal.
   Greenspan said Americans should be ‘cautious’ about the economy, but not necessarily nervous.
   ‘I think the best way of putting it is that the American economy’s rate of growth is definitely slowing down,’ Greenspan said, adding that the odds of a recession are less than 50/50.
   Greenspan added that he thought there was not much that lawmakers and the Federal Reserve should be doing to avoid a downturn.
   ‘I doubt very much if there is anything that can or should be done. Because remember, we have a very complex, self-calibrating, self-adjusting economy,’ he said.
   Greenspan, who left the Fed in January 2006, has been making extensive public appearances to promote his memoir, ‘The Age of Turbulence,’ which was published last month.
   The US economy grew at a relatively brisk 3.8 per cent annual rate in the second quarter, but is forecast to slow significantly during the third quarter because of a continuing slowdown in the housing sector.
   Greenspan said dealing with the overhand in the U.S. housing market quickly will help get the economy back on track.

The government on Monday announced additional measures to help exporters overcome the impact of the appreciating rupee, including expanding the scope of service tax refund and increasing the number of sectors eligible for reduced interest rates on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit.
   Exporters would now be given a refund of taxes paid on seven services, instead of four allowed earlier.
   The new services to be included in the scheme are general insurance, technical testing and analysis, and inspection and certification, a finance ministry notification said.
   The notification comes nearly six months after the commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath, announced the government’s intention to exempt exporters from service tax in the April supplement of the Annual Foreign Trade Policy.

The global credit squeeze is a ‘serious crisis’ that is not over yet and will have an impact on government budgets, the IMF’s outgoing head Rodrigo Rato said in an interview published Monday.
   Speaking to the Financial Times from Washington, IMF managing director Rato said: ‘Policymakers should not think that the problems will stay at the desk of the bankers.’
   ‘Problems are going to come to the real sector, come to the budgets — that is something we keep telling people.’
   Rato said that it would be ‘a few months, probably into next year’ before the availability of funds returned to normal levels in the markets, which was ‘going to have an impact on growth.’
   He noted that the limitation on growth would mean that finance ministers would have to amend their budgets, but he told the FT that it did not seem that many were willing to do so.
   Rato added that the credit crunch, sparked earlier this year by concern in the financial markets over high-risk or sub-prime mortgages in the United States, was ‘not a storm in a teacup.’
   ‘The US is going to slow down ... Growth in Europe looks less strong than before, and in Japan too — though Japan will probably stay at about potential,’ said Rato, who will be succeeded as IMF chief by former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the end of the month.
   Emerging markets will also likely have some impact, Rato said, adding that while those countries were growing rapidly, ‘to what extent they will keep that momentum will depend on how long the slowdown is in the US and Europe.’
   In Madrid Monday Rato said the risks had grown considerably in the past six months.
   ‘The risks are clearly much greater now that they were six months ago,’ Rato told a Latin American conference organised by Spanish chambers of commerce.
   ‘This turbulence in the credit market, if it continues, would obviously have a much more serious effect on the world economy,’ he said.

A 26-year-old female property developer tops this year’s Forbes list of the richest people in China, grabbing the number one spot with a net worth of 16 billion dollars, the US magazine said Monday.
   That amount also makes Yang Huiyan the richest woman in Asia, according to a statement from Forbes. All the 40 people on Forbes Asia’s 2007 China Rich List are billionaires, compared with only 15 last year, it said, attributing the rise to a boom in the nation’s stock and property markets.
   Their combined net worth is 120 billion dollars, up more than three times from last year’s 38 billion dollars, it said.
   Yang is one of more than a dozen property developers to make this year’s list of the 40 richest, reflecting roaring demand for homes and real estate investments, according to Forbes.
   ‘Household incomes are rising rapidly, and a growing number of people are moving into cities from rural areas,’ said Russell Flannery, compiler of the China Rich list.

Global demand for steel will keep growing next year in response to strong economies in China, Africa and the Middle East, the latest forecast by the steel federation IISI showed Monday.
   The International Iron and Steel Institute expected steel demand to grow by 6.8 per cent this year and by around the same level in 2008, it said at a forum in Berlin, slightly more than a forecast earlier this year.
   ‘Although global economic risks have increased, the IISI forecast assumes that the recent credit market volatility will not move the US economy into recession,’ said IISI president John Surma.
   ‘We are pleased to note that North Africa, South Africa and the Middle East are emerging as strong growth regions,’ he added, pointing to higher income and expanding investments as a result of rising energy and raw material prices.
   Countries that have already contributed to strong growth in steel demand, China in particular, would continue to do so, the IISI said.
   Chinese demand was estimated to grow by 11.5 per cent in 2008, following an expansion of 11.4 per cent this year, and represent 35 per cent of global demand.
   Brazil, India and Russia were also expected to consume large amounts of steel.
   European steel makers are getting set to lodge a complaint against China for selling finished steel products in Europe at below cost, a source close to the matter said on October 2.
   Imports of Chinese-made finished steel products into Europe are booming and are expected to double this year, according to Eurofer, a confederation of European iron and steel makers.

The German manufacturing industry continued to benefit from strong foreign demand despite the rise of the euro, economists said Monday.
   German manufacturing orders rebounded by 1.2 per cent in August on a monthly basis following a decline of 6.1 per cent in July, economy ministry figures showed.
   The July fall was revised upwards from a provisional estimated decline of 7.1 per cent.
   The rebound fell slightly short of expectations however, with markets looking for a 1.7 per cent increase in August, while the underlying trend in manufacturing orders remained solid.
   Orders were up 4.0 per cent on a 12-month basis in August.
   Driving the August rebound was a 2.4 per cent increase in foreign orders, despite the euro’s gain in value against the dollar and yen.
   Orders from outside the eurozone were up by 3.5 per cent, well ahead of the 1.0 per cent increase in orders from Germany’s eurozone partners. Domestic orders edged up by just 0.1 per cent.
   ‘Foreign orders are still driving things ... despite the strong euro,’ commented John Ratcliffe of Thomson Financial IFR Markets.
   A stronger euro should in principle drive up the price of eurozone exports, making them less competitive on world markets.
   On Monday, the euro slipped under 1.41 dollars, a week after it hit an all-time high of 1.4283 dollars.
   ‘The strong rise in non-euro zone exports appears to underscore the view that the record high euro/dollar is not derailing German export industry,’ said Alexander Koch of UniCredit.
   Stuart Bennett of Calyon said the continued strength of foreign demand for German capital goods should mean that German authorities can be relatively relaxed about the strength of the euro.
   But the 2.4 per cent August increase in foreign orders followed a steep 10.8 per cent decline in July, and surveys pointed to some weakness in orders in the months ahead.

Germany’s SAP, a world leader in business software, announced late Sunday that it had agreed with France’s Business Objects on a buy-out worth just over 4.8 billion euros ($6.8b).
   ‘The Business Objects board of directors has approved the tender offer agreement between the two companies and anticipates recommending the offer to its shareholders subject to fulfillment of certain regulatory requirements,’ said a statement on the two companies’ websites.
   The deal involves a cash offer from SAP of 53.4 dollars (42.00 euros) per share of Business Objects, which posted a turnover of 1.3 billion dollars (886 million euros) last year.
   ‘Together, SAP and Business Objects intend to offer high-value solutions for process and business oriented professionals,’ said the joint statement.
   The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, but Business Objects will operate as a stand-alone business as part of the SAP Group, the companies said.
   ‘Business Objects customers will continue to benefit from open, broad and integrated business intelligence solution,’ said their statement.
   ‘The acquisition of Business Objects is in keeping with SAP’s stated strategy to double our addressable market by 2010’ to reach 100,000 clients, Henning Kagermann, CEO of SAP AG, was quoted as saying.

China Minsheng Bank said Monday it planned to buy 9.9 per cent of UCBH Holdings Inc for up to 317 million dollars in the first strategic investment by a Chinese lender in a US bank.
   Minsheng Bank, which currently has no branches abroad, will have the option to increase its stake in San Francisco-based UCBH to 20 per cent in future, the mid-sized Chinese bank said in a statement with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
   ‘Acquiring a stake in UCBH is mainly targeted at being able to use its branch network,’ said Wang Qian, a Shanghai-based analyst with Industrial Securities.
   ‘UCBH mainly serves ethnic Chinese in the United States, which will facilitate Minsheng’s ambition of expanding its overseas operations.’
   The investment plan, to be conducted in two phases, is still subject to approval from both Chinese and US regulators, Minsheng said.
   Under the plan, Minsheng bank will first buy about 5.35 million new shares issued by UCBH, or 4.9 per cent of the US lender’s enlarged capital, for 97 million to 145 million dollars.
   In the second phase, it will increase its stake to 9.9 per cent by the end of August next year for 115 to 172 million dollars through either another share placement or purchasing shares from UCBH’s existing shareholders.
   The bank said the investment in UCBH, which has 70 branches across the US, will ‘provide the company a platform to access the US market.’
   Minsheng Bank also expected that ‘synergy effects coming from cooperation and integration of the two lenders will help us better grasp the opportunity of growing trade between China and the US.’
   UCBH had assets of 10.65 billion dollars as of June and it mainly provides commercial banking services to small and mid-sized corporates, as well as consumers and private banking.
   While this is the first Chinese foray of this kind into the US market, it might not be the last, according to observers.
   ‘It’s a strategy that other Chinese banks might consider,’ said Gu Junlei, a Shanghai-based analyst with Orient Securities.
   ‘After all, forex reserves are quite high and the yuan is appreciating against the dollar. It still depends on the situation of the individual bank. But the current backdrop creates an advantageous environment for such acquisitions.’
   However the jury is still out on the type of reaction that Minsheng Bank’s move might trigger in the United States.
   When state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corp launched a bid for US oil company Unocal, it set off widespread fears about selling national assets to China not least among American lawmakers.
   ‘There’ll definitely be some concern, but it all depends on the attitude of the US authorities,’ said Gu.
   ‘After all, Minsheng is not taking a too large stake, and even after the entire acquisition is completed, it will just own 9.9 per cent.’

Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said in an interview Monday he felt he had been ‘treated like a criminal and stigmatised’ by ‘unfounded criticism’ linked to a probe into insider trading at parent group EADS.
   The German news weekly Focus interviewed Enders about the affair and quoted him as saying he had done nothing wrong.
   Enders sold 50,000 stock options in EADS in November 2005 for a pre-tax profit of more than 700,000 euros ($990,000), at around the time that problems were appearing with the flagship Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet, Focus said.
   Enders, who was co-chief executive of EADS at the time, told Focus the options were an integral part of his remuneration and ‘not a speculative object.’
   Enders ‘did nothing wrong and thus has a clear conscience,’ the magazine quoted him as saying.

Costa Rica has backed a free trade agreement with the United States, with voters overcoming deep reservations to hand a narrow referendum victory Sunday to president Oscar Arias on the issue.
   ‘The people of Costa Rica have said yes to the free trade agreement, and that for me is a sacred wish,’ Arias said in a televised address to the nation after Costa Ricans voted in their tens of thousands on the measure.
   ‘They have given me a mandate and as a committed democrat I will obey it,’ he added.
   Turnout was 60 per cent — far above the 40 per cent threshold needed for the result to be binding and the deal automatically ratified.
   The Central American Free Trade Agreement has been ratified by several other countries in the region, but faced widespread opposition in Costa Rica, where Arias was forced to call a referendum after three years of debate.
   ‘The FTA is not what divides us,’ he said in his address after polling. ‘What divides us is the poverty in which 90,000 Costa Ricans live, the lack of jobs for the young, the violence that sows distrust in all our communities.’
   With more than 90 per cent of votes counted, just over 50 per cent of voters said yes to the agreement against 47.6 per cent who voted no, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.
   These results were a surprise after public opinion surveys taken before polls closed had indicated Arias’ bid to join the agreement was headed for defeat.
   US officials had warned the agreement would not be re-negotiated if Costa Rica rejected the measure. It has been ratified by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
   A ‘no’ vote would have been a snub to Washington, and a political blow to Arias, the 1987 Nobel peace prize winner who scraped to power last year against a leading opponent of free trade, the center-left economist Otton Solis.
   Many in Costa Rica, a highly literate, relatively prosperous nation in a poor part of the world, fear that assets such as the state’s lucrative public telecom and insurance monopolies would be sold off under the deal.

Vodafone Group Plc, the world’s largest telecom operator, will establish a Foundation in India with an investment of 10 million dollars to strengthen its presence in the country.
   Vodafone India Foundation’s aim would be to contribute to the society by providing direct grants to locally registered charities and global NGOs with social investment aims and objectives, a company release said.
   ‘As someone who was born and raised in India, I recognise the urgent need for our youth to be empowered from a knowledge perspective. We believe the Foundation will become an effective catalyst in this regard, Vodafone chief executive officer Arun Sarin said.
   Sarin would be the first chairman of the Foundation.

Mobile operator Banglalink and the Trust Bank Limited signed an agreement in the city on Monday.
   Under the agreement, Banglalink post-paid customers will enjoy services such as bill payment through Trust Bank branches, internet banking, SMS banking, ATM services along with auto debit facilities.
   Rashid Khan, chief executive officer of Banglalink, and Iqbal U Ahmed, managing director of the Trust Bank Limited, signed the agreement on behalf of the respective organisations, said a press release.
   Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, deputy managing director, Javed Islam, senior vice-president, head of IT and cards, Aftab Mahmud Khurshed, senior assistant vice-president, HO brand and market communications, Akram Sayeed, vice-president, IT and cards, from the bank and Ezzeldin Heikal, chief executive officer, M Mahmudul Kabir, senior manager, budgeting, planning and reporting, M Nur-E-Alam Siddiquee, treasury manager, and other senior officials of both the organisations were present at the signing ceremony.

The euro slipped under 1.41 dollars on Monday as eurozone ministers sat down to discuss the European single currency’s recent record strength, dealers said.
   In European deals on Monday, the euro fell to 1.4084 dollars, compared with 1.4134 dollars in New York late on Friday.
   Elsewhere, the US currency climbed to 117.32 yen from 116.94 yen late on Friday.
   The record-breaking euro will be in focus as eurozone finance ministers meet in Luxembourg to hammer out a joint message to take to an upcoming G7 meeting later this month. The euro had hit an historic high of 1.4283 dollars last Monday.
   ‘The Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday and Tuesday with the euro’s impact on the eurozone economy likely to be a major topic of conversation,’ said Calyon analyst Stuart Bennett.
   ‘The dilemma for these policymakers is that there is very little they can do to weaken the currency.’
   Many eurozone countries, led by France, argue that the surging euro hits their economies hardest because it ramps up the cost of their exports.
   Market participants were also braced for Tuesday’s publication of minutes from the Fed’s September monetary policy meeting. The US Federal Reserve slashed its key interest rate by a half-point last month to 4.75 per cent amid global market turmoil. The European Central Bank, meanwhile, froze eurozone borrowing costs at 4.00 per cent.
   ‘The euro is still uncomfortably sandwiched between a Fed likely to cut rates further and an ECB probably on hold, but still teasing the market with the possibility of rate hikes,’ Bennett added.
   Thomas Lam, treasury economist at United Overseas Bank Group, said the tone of trading during the first three days of the week should be set by the Federal Open Market Committee minutes. ‘Depending on what the details are, I think that could potentially create a bit more uncertainty in financial markets,’ Lam said.
   The dollar in recent weeks has come under heavy selling pressure on speculation that the Fed would continue to cut its benchmark interest rate as signs emerged of a slowdown in US momentum. Lower US interest rates would make the dollar less attractive.
   Meanwhile, a US Labour Department report Friday said the US economy last month created 110,000 jobs, on the back of a revised rise of 89,000 in August.
   The data suggested that the world’s biggest economy might not be heading for recession and that the Fed would not now be in a rush to lower borrowing costs again.
   In early European trading on Monday, the euro changed hands at 1.4084 dollars, against 1.4134 dollars late on Friday, 165.33 yen (165.32), 0.6919 pounds (0.6923) and 1.6678 Swiss francs (1.6654).
   The dollar stood at 117.32 yen (116.94) and 1.1836 Swiss francs (1.1780).
   The pound was being traded at 2.0376 dollars (2.0414).
   On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold eased to 736.80 dollars per ounce at the morning fixing from 737 dollars late on Friday.

World oil prices fell in Asian trade on Monday but worries over tight energy supplies limited the drop, dealers said.
   In afternoon trade, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was 46 cents lower at 80.76 dollars per barrel.
   Brent North Sea crude for November delivery was at 78.47 dollars per barrel, down 43 cents.
   ‘Generally there is a lack of bullish news driving the market, so there is some softening of oil pricing,’ said Victor Shum, of energy consultants Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
   ‘However, the crude oil supply and demand fundamentals remain quite firm
   in the near term,’ Shum added. He said he expects strong support at the high 70-dollar level.
   He noted that, heading toward the Northern hemisphere winter season, heating oil inventories remain below the five-year average for this time of year.
   The US Department of Energy’s weekly report released Wednesday showed stockpiles of distillates, including heating fuel, unexpectedly dropped by 1.2 million barrels to 135.9 million barrels during the week ended September 28.

Trade
   Mercantile Bank Ltd
   AKM Shaheed Reza, one of the directors of the bank, has reported his intention to buy 10,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Aims Ist MF
   Trading of the shares of the fund will remain suspended today.
   Monno Fabrics
   Harunar Rashid Khan, one of the sponsor/directors of the company, has reported his intention to buy 10,000 Shares of the company at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Federal Insurance
   As per decision of the SEC, trading of the shares of the company will be held through CDBL with effect from October 31, 2007. In this respect, trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market on October 25 and trading of the shares will remain suspended during October 28 to 30 for finalisation of Demat process.
   
   Agreement
   Trust Bank
   The bank has informed that it has entered into an agreement with the department of passports and immigration for receiving and processing of applications for issuance of new passports, by the department of passports and immigration, through its Dilkusha corporate, Gulshan corporate, Uttara corporate and Dhanmondi branches, for rendering this service, the Bank will charge a service charge of Tk 200 per passport.
   Source: DSE, CSE

Reverse repo
auction held
The Reverse repo auction for the commercial banks and financial institutions was hold at the Bangladesh Bank head office in the capital on Monday. Seventeen bids of 1-day tenor amounting to Tk 1284 crore and one bid of 2-day tenor amounting to Tk 137 crore, in grand total 18 bids amounting to Tk 1421 crore were received and all the bids were accepted. The rate of interest against the accepted bids was 6.50 per cent annually.
— New Age

Employment ministry reviews ADP
Labour and Employment secretary Ashfaq Hamid on Monday said the government decided to introduce a modern and time befitting curriculum in the country’s technical educational institutes to produce skilled human resources. ‘Besides, a high-powered committee has been formed to explore newer job markets for the skilled manpower,’ he told a meeting reviewing the progress of ministry’s 10 projects being implemented under Annual Development Programme during the current fiscal. Ashfaq Hamid chaired the meeting held in the conference room of the ministry. He urged the officials to be more active, honest and sincere in maintaining transparency while discharging their duties. The meeting also discussed procurement of new equipment for the technical training institutes. It meeting was informed that the government had allocated Tk 90 crore for implementing the 10 projects during the 2007-08 financial year. High officials of different departments under the ministry attended the meeting.
— BSS

Hong Kong gold
opens higher
Hong Kong gold prices opened higher Monday at 741.50-742.00 US dollars an ounce, up from Friday’s close of 734.40-734.90 dollars.
— AFP

Malaysia pension fund to cut stake in RHB Capital
Malaysia’s state-run pension fund said Monday it aims to sell off more than 40 per cent of the country’s fourth largest bank RHB Capital early next year to meet a shareholding rule. The Employees Provident Fund is the single largest shareholder in RHB Capital with an 82 per cent stake. Under a central bank ruling, it needs to reduce its holding to 35 per cent by June next year. EPF chief executive officer Azlan Zainol said an announcement on a buyer for RHB Capital, which is listed on the stock exchange, was likely by the first quarter. ‘There has been interest from the Middle East and interest from some big financial houses from Europe, we are looking at all these.
— AFP