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The South Asian Federation of Exchanges will launch SAFE regional index within three to four months.
   The index would be listed and traded at all member exchanges and Dow Jones is actively cooperating with SAFE in this regard, said Ahmad Rashid Lali, senior vice president of Dhaka Stock Exchange at the concluding ceremony of the two-day second South Asian capital markets conference on Friday.
   The participants discussed various issues related to cross-border listing, integration and regional cooperation, he said.
   Exchange of information and knowledge is needed to develop the markets in the region, he added.
   Rajnikant Patel, chief executive officer of the Bombay Stock Exchange, said it was time to fix target and go for action.
   He urged the regional stock exchanges to list exchange traded fund on SAFE in local currency.
   ‘We need sponsors like banks and big companies which can provide fund for that,’ he said.
   Regarding cross-border listing, he said, it would not happen in the near future and the member exchanges should opt for those issues which can be achievable in the near-term. President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Latifur Rahman said market liquidity increases growth of a country.
   ‘South Asian countries should formulate polices which will help to increase market liquidity and for that, policy-makers should consider judicial, tax, macroeconomic variables and political environment,’ he said.
   He urged the SAFE to go faster rather than step by step to realise the maximum potentials.
   Nasiruddin Ahmed, president of Chittagong Stock Exchange, said experience and knowledge sharing would help markets gain efficiency.
   CSE, DSE, Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan, Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India, Maldives Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Nepal Stock Exchange, Islamabad Stock Exchange (guarantee), Karachi Stock Exchange (guarantee), Lahore Stock Exchange (guarantee) and National Commodity Exchange Limited of Pakistan, and Colombo Stock Exchange are the members of the SAFE.

The prices of broiler chicken declined significantly while that of fishes and edible oil increased in the city markets in the past week.
   Traders said chicken were getting cheaper as fresh outbreaks of bird flu across the country were making consumers panicky reducing consumption of chickens.
   Edible oil prices increased following price hike on the wholesale markets in the previous week.
   Broiler chicken per kilogram was retailed between Tk 70 and Tk 80 at different city markets on Friday. The farm-grown chicken had been retailed between Tk 85 and Tk 90 a week ago and Tk 90 and Tk 100 two weeks back.
   ‘News of bird flu detection is panicking consumers. So, sales of chickens are dropping everyday and prices are falling,’ said a chicken retailer at Mahakhali Bazar on Friday.
   Traders said, although at a slower pace, sales of eggs were also dropping, pushing down the prices.
   Per dozen farm grown eggs was retailed between Tk 45 and Tk 48 against up to Tk 51 a week ago and Tk 54 two weeks back.
   Prices of local chicken remained steady due to consumers’ traditional belief that household birds are more resistant to diseases than the farm-grown birds.
   The declining consumption of broiler has meantime made impacts on fish market, traders said.
   Prices of all categories of fishes increased by Tk 30 to Tk 100 per kilogram over the week.
   Per kilogram of medium sized telapia was selling for up to Tk 150 per kilogram on Friday against Tk 120 a week ago, small mola fish for Tk 160 against Tk 120, deshi katal Tk 220 against Tk 160 while medium-sized deshi cat fishes for up to Tk 500 against Tk 400.
   ‘We are witnessing increased number of buyers at fish markets,’ said one fish trader at Nakhal Para Bazaar.
   The prices of edible oils, which have been skyrocketing since the past few months following global price hike of crude soybean oil and palm oil, increased further in the past week.
   Non-packed soay bean oil retailed towards end of the week between Tk 96 and Tk 100 kilogram up Tk 2 over the week.
   Price of rice and flour remained at the same peaks in the past week.
   Different verities of coarse rice were selling between Tk 29 and Tk 32 per kilogram in the past week while packed coarse flour was selling between Tk 42 and Tk 43 per kilogram.
   Prices of vegetables also remained stable in the week with satisfactory supply of winter produces continued.
   On Friday at Nayatola Bazaar, per kilogram of beans were selling between Tk 20 and Tk 24, tomatoes between Tk 18 and Tk 20, potatoes between Tk 13 and Tk 16 and onions Tk 16 and Tk 20.
   A large-sized cauliflower was selling between Tk 15 and Tk 18 while a cabbage between Tk 10 and Tk 12.
   The prices of most other essential commodities remained steady last week with sugar selling at Tk 30 to Tk 32 per kg, red lentil Tk 65 to Tk 80, and beef Tk 170 to Tk 180 per kilogram.

Years of family and personal feuds have turned the two business partners into rivals and set them quarrelling over a popular consumer brand, Fresh, which has an annual turnover of Tk 4,000 crore.
   The brand dispute surfaced last week as one of the two former partners announced that he would start marketing his food items using the same brand name, Fresh.
   Meghna Group of Industries owned by Mustafa Kamal has been using Fresh and Super Fresh brand names for more than seven years. The two brands have secured a leading position, in terms of sales, in local market of refined soybean oil, mustard oil, flour, bottled water, milk powder, tea, spices, salt, cement and poultry feeds, industry sources said.
   But Meghna Group of Industries (Limited), which remained inoperative for nearly seven years, last week announced that it would start marketing several food items with Fresh and Prime Fresh tags. The owner of the company is Mohammed Faiz Kamal, the once partner of Mustafa Kamal.
   The two friends and partners invested their money and energy for years together to grow a wholesale outlet into a leading food company that started producing and marketing Fresh brand products. Business partnership led to family relations between the two before they split in 2001 and formed two separate companies with almost similar names.
   But Faiz Kamal’s company remained almost inoperative since then and had no visible market presence. Last week it announced its plan to hit the market.
   Faiz Kamal said he had the right to claim the brand as he was one of the two founders of Meghna Group of Industries Limited which originally introduced Fresh brand in 1995.
   He told New Age that they would use Fresh brand in condensed milk, soya bean oil and mineral water while Prime Fresh tag for milk powder, mineral water and tea.
   ‘We have an annual sales target of Tk 1,000 crore,’ MF Kamal added.
   Mustafa Kamal, chairman of Meghna Group of Industries told New Age on Thursday that he was preparing for legal actions against the company that would try to sell products with Fresh or other names that sound close to it.
   He alleged that one company was trying to confuse consumers by such announcements.
   ‘We will also launch market communication programme to protect our brands which have an annual turnover of more than Tk 3,500 crore,’ Mustafa Kamal told New Age
   Industry sources said turnover of Mustafa’s Meghna group crossed Tk 4,000 a year ago after it grabbed more than 15 per cent share of Tk 5,000 crore local market of refined soya bean and palm oils both in bottle and non-packed forms.
   Business sources said the two friends made their early fortunes from wholesale shops at Maulavibazar in Dhaka and became relatives. In mid ‘90s they ventured into an industry, initially packing milk powder, refining edible oil and marketing some other items.
   The initiatives snowballed into a full-fledged company, Meghna Group of Industries Limited, registered in 1995. Soon it grew into a corporate group in 2000 and span off six industries until February 2001, when the two partners split and were left with three units each.
   Mustafa Kamal continued with the business and gradually expanded it into a large group that now boasts 23 industries and employs about 8,000 people.
   But MF Kamal virtually stayed away from the manufacturing activities until recently when a court verdict allowed Meghna Group of Industries Limited to run its condensed milk plant.
   The Tk 60 crore plant with daily production capacity of 4,80,000 cans had remained inoperative for nearly seven years due to banking and internal disputes.
   Business sources close to both Mustafa Kamal and MF Kamal said the two had fought dozens of battles in courts since the 2001 split.
   ‘Several negotiations initiated by high profile politicians and top bureaucrats over the years failed to bring them closer,’ said a leader of the Maulavibazar Merchants Association, forecasting that the ‘fight of ego’ between the two might prolong for years.

Cambodian garment exports plummeted 46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007, capping off a dismal year in one of the impoverished country’s key sectors, industry officials say, warning of future factory closures and job cuts.
   An economic downturn in the United States, which buys 70 per cent of all Cambodian textiles, and continuing domestic labour disputes contributed to the plunge, said Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia.
   Until last year, the sector had enjoyed annual growth of up to 20 per cent, he added.
   But export growth for all of 2007 stood at only 2.4 per cent, representing 2.9 billion dollars, Van Sou Ieng told AFP, adding that the outlook for 2008 ‘surely was not good.’
   ‘Definitely some factories will close, some people will lose their jobs,’ he said.
   Cambodia’s garment industry is the impoverished country’s largest source of income, providing 80 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings and employing an estimated 350,000 people.
   Despite heavy competition within the region, namely from China and Vietnam, Cambodia has won over buyers in the US and Europe with its labour-friendly image.
   This should help it maintain some market presence, said Tuomo Poutiainen, the chief technical advisor with the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia programme, which monitors workplace conditions.
   ‘Cambodia will most probably remain a good sourcing destination at least for the established brands,’ he said.
   But the end of US restrictions against Chinese textile exports in 2009, as well as greater productivity and cheaper utilities in Vietnam are still likely to erode Cambodia’s position, industry officials warn.
   Deteriorating labour relations are also weakening the sector, Van Sou Ieng said.
   ‘The immediate solution is improving industrial relations.’
   ‘If we can convince our colleagues from the unions to cooperate and be more serious and productive, we might be able to maintain some permanence,’ he added.
   Industry officials said an estimated 1,100 separate unions are operating in Cambodia’s 300 garment factories, with some manufacturers having to deal with as many as seven workers’ groups at one time.
   ‘It is impossible to manage,’ Van Sou Ieng said, adding that frequent illegal strikes have cut heavily into productivity and driven away foreign buyers.
   ‘It is a serious black mark on the industry,’ he said.
   Labour leaders have disputed factory owners’ claims, saying they are greatly exaggerating the number of strikes and that workers are simply lobbying for fair wages.
   Minimum wage for garment workers hovers around 50 dollars per month.
   ‘The message that the whole of the garment sector is hearing is that there needs to be a common way forward that sensibly represents the interest of all,’ said the ILO’s Poutiainen.
   ‘Global competition is brutal and any discouraging news from Cambodia in terms of labour unrest may affect negatively the levels of orders,’ he added.
   In the wake of last year’s slaying of a third union leader, several international clothing manufacturers said a resolution to labour-related violence was crucial to their continued presence in Cambodia.

Md Jahangir Alam Khan was elected chairman of the board of directors of United Commercial Bank Ltd in an emergency board meeting held in the Dhaka city on Wednesday, said a press release.
   Jahangir Alam is chairman and managing director of JK Group of Industries.
   He is the founder of JK Memorial Hospital at Gohira in Chittagong. He is also president of Chittagong Samity, Dhaka. He is a life member of Bhatiary
   Golf Club and Officers’ Club in Chittagong and Bangladesh Red
   Crescent Society, Chittagong.
   Jahangir Alam Khan visited many countries of the world in connection with industrial development.

Nasiruddin Ahmed has been promoted as additional managing director of the Prime Bank Limited with effect from Friday, said a press release.
   Previously, he was deputy managing director of the bank. Prior to joining Prime Bank, he was deputy executive president of the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited.
   Nasiruddin started his banking career by joining the Bank Officials’ Training Scheme under the State Bank of Pakistan in early seventies. He then joined the then Habib Bank Limited ( now Agrani Bank) in 1971.

Thailand’s inflation rate jumped to an 18-month high of 4.3 per cent year-on-year in January due to soaring energy costs and rising food prices, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.
   The figure was far higher than the market’s forecast of 3.8 per cent and marked a sharp rise from December’s inflation rate of 3.2 per cent.
   ‘Inflation in January surged mainly due to high oil and food prices,’ said Kavee Chukitkasem, a senior economist at Kasikorn Securities. Energy costs jumped 28 per cent year-on-year, while poultry prices rose 11.2 per cent, the ministry said, adding fruit and vegetable prices were up 9.6 per cent in January.
   Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.2 per cent year-on-year in January. The government has predicted Thailand’s inflation rate would stay between 3.0-3.5 per cent in 2008.
   Thailand’s economy has been hit by sluggish consumption and weak business confidence, and investors are hopeful that the country’s new government under prime minister Samak Sundaravej would implement economic stimulus measures.

Singapore and the Gulf Cooperation Council have substantially concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement, the two sides said in a joint statement Thursday.
   They said the final round of negotiations ended Thursday and was the last of four rounds that began in January 2007.
   The agreement is the first free trade agreement concluded by the GCC countries outside the Middle East, it said.
   The deal ‘is a comprehensive agreement covering areas such as trade in goods, trade in services including financial services, e-commerce, government procurement, customs, and cooperation,’ the statement said.
   Singapore has embarked on a strategy to broaden its trade, business and diplomatic ties with the Middle East, which it sees as a growth region.
   The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
   Singapore is a pioneer in forging free trade pacts, having signed them with the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Jordan and India, among others.
   The Southeast Asian city-state is heavily dependent on external trade and hopes its plethora of FTAs with major trading partners will ensure its economy will have market access.

The Gulf states of Kuwait and United Arab Emirates on Thursday followed the United States and cut key lending rates by 50 basis points, moves which stoked fears of higher inflation.
   The central bank in the UAE, which has the second largest economy in the oil-rich Gulf region, lowered its repurchase rate to three per cent from 3.5 per cent effective Thursday.
   It still pegs the national currency, the dirham, to the US dollar despite mounting pressure for it to be revalued or pegged to a basket of currencies.
   Kuwait, the only member of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council states to peg its dinar to a basket of currencies, reduced its repo rate to 3.5 per cent from four per cent.
   However, it maintained its benchmark interest rate at 5.75 per cent after cutting it by half a percentage point, the first such move in 18 months.
   The US Federal Reserve said Wednesday it cut its federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 3.00 percent, continuing an aggressive drive to stimulate the economy after a reduction of 75 points just eight days before.
   Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Gulf region, was closed for the weekend on Thursday and the remaining three GCC states appear to have made no decision so far.
   But the latest move is expected to stoke already high inflation rates in the Gulf states which have been enjoying unprecedented growth thanks to record high oil prices, economists said.
   ‘Monetary policy-makers in the Gulf states are certainly facing a major dilemma regarding what to do as the US and Gulf economies are going in opposite directions,’ Kuwaiti economist Hajjaj Bukhdur said.
   ‘Lowering interest rates will encourage borrowing, thus increasing liquidity and pushing inflation rates higher.’
   ‘By revaluing their currencies, it means a sharp drop in the value of their huge dollar assets when assessed in national currencies,’ Bukhdur said.

Tens of thousands of farmers on foot and on lumbering tractors clogged Mexico City Thursday to protest at the lifting of corn tariffs under a free trade agreement, which they say is hurting their pockets.
   ‘No corn, no country’ was the byword of the protest plastered in signs on tractors and buses, as the angry farmers, some of them leading herds of cattle through the streets, demanded equal treatment with farmers in the United States and Canada.
   While it was mostly peaceful, there was some tension late Wednesday when a column of slow-moving tractors ground to a reluctant halt before a phalanx of anti-riot police that barred access to the Zocalo, the city’s main square.
   By late Thursday, however, the protest was allowed to move on Zocalo, where organizers said some 50,000 people congregated, while police put the crowd estimate taken by helicopter at between 20,000 and 25,000.
   Some 1,500 police fanned out across the city to prevent any unrest stemming from the protest. Farmers from across the country have made their way here, some on foot for 1,600 kilometers, since January 18.
   A provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement lifting tariffs on corn — Mexico’s staple food — and other products kicked in on January 1, 14 years after the agreement between the three neighbors came into being.
   Many farmers in Mexico have been against NAFTA from the start, but their protest has escalated as the date for lifting corn tariffs approached.
   The National Peasant Confederation, Mexico’s chief farmers’ union with more than five million members, has also warned against NAFTA regulations lifting tariffs on milk and sugar cane products.
   Farmers say that government subsidies their counterparts in Canada and United States receive are unfair. CNC said farmers get some 20,000 dollars in annual subsidies in the United States compared to only 700 dollars in Mexico.
   They also complain of mounting fuel, fertilizer and electricity prices which they claim represent 60 percent of the average cost of running a farm and place them at a severe disadvantage to their northern competitors.
   The farmers and opposition politicians are insisting that some NAFTA provisions be renegotiated, but the three NAFTA governments refuse to do so.
   Canada’s agriculture minister Gerry Ritz last week said the United States, Mexico and Canada were pleased at how NAFTA was working and saw no reason to reopen negotiations.
   Mexican leftist opposition lawmaker Victor Quintana, however, asked that ‘at least corn and beans be removed’ from the list of products allowed tariff-free into Mexico.
   The NAFTA agremeement, he told reporters, ‘is a disaster for Mexican farmers, for the people’s food security, for national security and for the country’s democratic rule.’
   For University of Chapingo agronomist Rita Schwentesius, the 1,000 farm products exempt of tariffs since January 1 ‘will have no ecomomic impact. There will be no crisis because grain prices corn and beans included have gone up on the international market.’
   But corn grower Luis Valdiga, 49, who drove his tractor here from central Aguascalientes state, saw things differently.
   ‘Before NAFTA we could live off our crops. Now they’re worthless. What can we do?’

Global trade talks are on their ‘last lap’ but sticking points on agriculture and industrial goods must be solved by March for there to be a deal by year’s end, the head of the World Trade Organisation said Thursday.
   ‘The political conditions for reaching a deal on the modalities have never been better,’ WTO director general Pascal Lamy told a meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee in Geneva.
   ‘We are on the last lap and it is now time to start our sprint towards the finish line,’ he added.
   Agriculture is a particularly crucial element in the WTO Doha round of talks which aim to cut barriers and spur development but which have been mired in deadlock and disagreement since their launch back in November 2001.
   Developing and emerging nations want cuts in rich country farm subsidies and in import tariffs for agricultural produce, while industralised nations want better access to markets in poorer economies for their manufactured goods in return.
   The WTO’s chief negotiator on agriculture is set to issue a revised text on the issue next week, in parallel with a similar text on industrial goods, known in the WTO as non-agricultural market access.
   These texts will be studied in national capitals before work resumes at the WTO negotiating groups, with the aim of ironing out as many differences so the texts can then be put before a ministerial meeting around Easter in late March.

A South Korean court on Friday convicted US buyout fund Lone Star of rigging shares following its takeover of a local bank, imposing fines totalling 53 million dollars and jailing an executive.
   The Seoul Central District Court found the Dallas-based fund and Paul Yoo, head of its Korean unit, guilty of stock manipulation following the takeover of the Korea Exchange Bank in 2003.
   The court sentenced Yoo to five years in prison and he was immediately taken into custody. KEB and its main shareholder Lone Star were each fined 25 billion won ($26.5m).
   It was the first court ruling in a years-long legal battle between prosecutors and the Dallas-based fund. The American Chamber of Commerce said last month that Lone Star’s legal troubles are scaring foreign investors away from Asia’s fourth largest economy.
   The verdict has put into question Lone Star’s plan to sell its 51 per cent stake in KEB to global giant HSBC for 6.3 billion dollars. The US fund was forced to scrap an earlier sale to Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest lender.
   South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service on Friday reiterated it would withhold approval for the HSBC deal until all legal problems are sorted out.
   Yoo and Lone Star both said they would appeal. The fund in a statement said there is ‘simply no credible evidence to support the court’s findings.’
   Lone Star, which insists it did nothing wrong, bought 50.5 per cent of KEB for about 1.5 billion dollars in October 2003 and decided to merge the bank and its separate credit card unit a month later.
   Yoo and the US fund were accused of spreading false rumours to drive down the card unit’s share price so it could be absorbed more cheaply into the main bank.
   Lone Star chairman John Grayken testified on Yoo’s behalf last month. He was not charged but was temporarily banned from leaving the country while prosecutors questioned him.
   Lone Star ‘was intent on spreading false rumours about a capital reduction of the Korea Exchange Bank’s credit unit,’ said the court in its judgement.
   The fund in its statement said the card unit was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time. It said Yoo and other KEB directors, including several non-Lone Star members, acted properly and never attempted to manipulate the share price.
   The case was part of a broader investigation into claims that Lone Star had lobbied local officials to exaggerate the financial woes of KEB so that it could buy the country’s sixth-largest lender at a fire-sale price.

Global air traffic which sparkled last year is set to slow in 2008 amid rising prices and economic uncertainty after a sharp decline in December, the International Air Transport Association said on Thursday.
   December passenger traffic demand rose by 6.7 per cent, down from 9.3 per cent in November, IATA said in a statement.
   ‘The slower growth for passenger demand in December sets the trend for the coming months,’ IATA chief executive officer Giovanni Bisignani said.
   ‘Oil prices are higher than ever. Economic uncertainty accompanying the US credit crunch is broadening,’ he added.
   IATA expects passenger demand growth at 5 per cent in 2008, down from 7.4 per cent in 2007.
   The year just ended was ‘the best in recent memory,’ Bisignani said.
   ‘Strong passenger growth of 7.4 per cent was a key component of the industry’s 5.6 billion dollar profit in 2007 — the first black number since 2000,’ he said.
   Average international passenger load factors reached an industry record of 77 per cent in 2007, up from 76 per cent in 2006.
   Middle Eastern carriers registered the strongest growth in 2007 with passenger demand up 18.1 per cent, reflecting strong regional economies, the impact of oil wealth, expanded capacity and new routes, IATA said.

Foreigners made up one-third of Singapore’s workforce last year and the unemployment rate eased to a 10-year low in the fourth quarter, the government said Thursday.
   Foreign employment rose by a new high of 144,500 last year and as of December there were 900,800 workers from overseas, accounting for 33 per cent of the 2.73 million people employed, the Ministry of Manpower said in a press release.
   ‘Foreign employment rose by a new high of 144,500 in 2007, enabling the economy to grow beyond the limits of Singapore’s indigenous workforce,’ it said.
   Singapore’s strong economy has lured overseas workers who fill everything from construction jobs to white collar and service work.
   The unemployment rate was 1.6 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the three months to December, compared with 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter, the ministry said.
   Preliminary ministry figures showed employment grew by 64,200 in the December quarter, bringing total hiring for 2007 to a record 236,600.
   The previous record was 176,000 set in 2006.
   ‘The strong economy led to another record breaking year for employment creation in 2007,’ the ministry said.
   Job gains were broadly-based, with the services sector recording the biggest rise of 144,100 for the year, it said.

OPEC left unchanged its oil production ceiling on Friday, snubbing US demands for an increase as the cartel focuses on supporting prices which have fallen 10 per cent since the start of the year.
   Explaining its decision, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said that stockpiles of crude were likely to increase in the first half of 2008.
   ‘In view of the current situation, coupled with the projected economic slow-down, the conference agreed that current OPEC production is sufficient to meet expected demand for the first quarter of the year,’ the group said in an official statement.
   ‘At the same time, however, the conference noted that the significant uncertainties associated with the projected downturn in the global economy called for vigilant attention to their impact on key market fundamentals of supply and demand until its next Meeting on 5 March 2008,’ it added.
   OPEC, which pumps 40 per cent of world oil, decided to keep official daily output at 29.67 million oil barrels.
   A freeze is be a snub to the United States after president George W Bush recently urged OPEC to increase output to help bring down high oil prices that stunt economic growth and fuel inflation.
   However, lower oil prices are not welcomed by crude producers as their export income drops.
   Since striking a high above 100 dollars at the start of the year, the price of oil has slid owing to fears of a US recession and a global economic slowdown. But crude futures are still almost double the level of a year ago.
   A US recession would dent demand for crude in the world’s biggest energy market and send oil prices sliding further, OPEC fears.
   Kuwait’s acting oil minister, Mohammed Al-Aleem, had said on Thursday that the 13-member OPEC was ‘a little worried about the impact of a slowdown or a recession in the United States’ on oil prices.

The City Bank Limited has opened an ATM booth at Dilkusha in the Dhaka city recently.
   Sohail RK Hussain, deputy managing director (business) of the bank, inaugurated the booth at a ceremony, said a press release.
   Mashrur Arefin, head of retail banking, Yusuf Sayeed, head of corporate and investment banking, and ASM Obaidul Quader, head of marketing, and other officials of the bank were present.

The Eastern Bank Limited opened an ATM booth in Narayanganj on Thursday.
   Mamoon Mahmood Shah, acting managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, inaugurated the booth through a function, said a press release.
   Mohammad Musa, cluster head-Dhaka-1 of EBL, Mahabbat Hossain Chowdhury, head of strategy and business development, Taufiq Hassan head of cards, Nazeem A Choudhury, head of marketing, and other senior officials of the bank were present.

Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita opened an office in Singapore on Friday that it says will serve as its gateway to Asia, in the latest sign of expanding Gulf investments into the region.
   The opening coincides with the substantial conclusion of negotiations Thursday between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Singapore for a free trade agreement.
   Singapore has embarked on a strategy to broaden its trade, business and diplomatic ties with the Middle East, which it sees as a growth region.
   Arcapita, which also has offices in the United States and Britain, will focus on investing in infrastructure and real estate in the next 18 months, and later on private equity, company officials said.
   ‘We believe there is tremendous growth potential in Asia for our real estate business via investment in logistics and housing projects,’ said Arcapita chief executive Atif Abdulmalik.
   ‘In Asia, I think you will see us focussing more, to start with, on infrastructure and real estate because they are easier to do. At a later stage we will definitely look into private equity and venture capital.’

The dollar fell against major currencies on Friday ahead of a key US labour market report amid ongoing fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy, dealers said.
   The euro rose to 1.4878 dollars, from 1.4857 dollars in New York late on Thursday, when it had surged as high as 1.4914.
   The dollar edged downwards to 106.40 yen from 106.44 yen.
   In commodities, gold prices hit a historic high point of 933.90 dollars per ounce as the yellow metal was boosted by strains in the US economy and weakness of the dollar, analysts said.
   Foreign exchange market investors were awaiting the latest US non-farm payrolls report and Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index due to be released later on Friday
   ‘The major currency pairs traded within tight ranges ... ahead of the today’s non-farm payrolls and ISM manufacturing reports,’ said Lee Hardman, currency economist at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London.
   ‘Market participants’ reluctance to increase risk exposure ahead of the reports reflects uncertainty over whether the reports will confirm current market expectations that the US economy is heading into recession.’
   Hardman added: ‘Whatever today’s employment data and ISM manufacturing index reveals, we will maintain our view that the prospects for the US economy do not look good.’
   Analysts expect the report to show 75,000 new US jobs were created in December, well below the figure needed to absorb new labour market entrants.
   The US jobs data would be a ‘litmus test’ of the US economic outlook, said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp .
   Even a better than expected reading would not necessarily erase market uncertainty and persistent concern the world’s largest economy is headed for a slump, Uno said.
   ‘It is hard to imagine even in that scenario investors buying back the dollar,’ he added.
   The dollar had come under pressure on Thursday after a sharp spike in US jobless claims, which came soon after news of a dramatic slowdown in fourth quarter growth. Weekly jobless claimed jumped 69,000 to 375,000.
   Dealers said the markets expected the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates if needed to keep the US economy out of recession, with a reduction of a quarter point seen as near certain at the next meeting on March 18.
   The Fed slashed interest rates on Wednesday by a half-point to 3.0 per cent in a bid to shore up economic growth, another substantial move after an emergency reduction of three quarters of a point last week.
   In Europe on Friday, the euro changed hands at 1.4878 dollars against 1.4857 late Thursday, at 158.33 yen, 0.7470 pounds and 1.6063 Swiss franc.
   The dollar stood at 106.40 yen and 1.0796 Swiss francs. The pound was at 1.9927 dollars.
   On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold later stood at 929.68 dollars an ounce, up from 923.25 dollars late on Thursday.

Gold prices hit a historic 933.90 dollars per ounce on Friday as the yellow metal was boosted by strains in the US economy and weakness of the dollar, analysts said.
   The new pinnacle on the London Bullion Market beat the previous high point of 933.33 dollars, was set on Tuesday.
   Precious metals are in demand by investors seeking a safe haven for their cash amid deepening concerns that the United States economy could be heading for a recession.
   Weakness of the dollar encourages demand for dollar-priced commodities because it makes them cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies.

Singer holds sales conference
The Singer Bangladesh Limited held its sales conference 2008 at Cox’s Bazar in January 24-27, with nearly 300 participants from across the country, said a press release. Special assistant to the chief adviser Mahbub Jamil formally inaugurated the conference on January 25. Among others, president and chief executive officer of Singer Asia Gavin Walker and a host of distinguished guests along with Singer management committee members, sales managers, area/district managers, branch/shop managers and sales agents attended the conference.
— New Age

India inflation rises to 3.93pc
India’s annual inflation rate stood at 3.93 per cent for the week ended January 19, following further increases in the price of food items, official data showed Friday. The figure compared with a rate of 3.83 per cent a week ago, according to the wholesale price index, India’s most watched cost-of-living monitor. Inflation stood at 6.31 per cent in the same period the previous year. Inflation has fluctuated in recent weeks but stayed well below the central bank’s ceiling of close to five percent for the fiscal year to March 31, 2008. The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday held key rates steady, but said the risk of higher inflation had increased. It has raised interest rates nine times since 2004 to keep prices in check amid an economic boom.
— AFP

Hong Kong cuts interest rates to match US
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority cut its base rate by 50 basis points Thursday to 4.5 per cent, following a similar cut overnight by the US Federal Reserve, a spokesman for the HKMA said. The Fed cut its target for the federal funds rate, or the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, to 3.0 per cent from 3.5 per cent Wednesday in response to global market turmoil and fears of a US recession. The action came one week after an emergency cut of 75 basis points, also matched in Hong Kong. The HKMA generally follows the Fed’s interest rate adjustments as Hong Kong’s currency is pegged to the US dollar. The HKMA base rate is the reference rate for lending overnight funds to local banks.
— AFP