Monday August 03, 2009

KARACHI: The Swiss investors in Pakistan are satisfied with their current business result and foresee further investments to consolidate their market position. This was stated by the Consul General of Switzerland in Karachi, Martin Bienz, in a message in connection with the Swiss National Day.

He also hosted a reception at the Consulate General of Switzerland here to mark the occasion. In his message, he pointed out that the Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 when three rural cantons formed a historic alliance to protect their freedom. The Swiss Consul General further stated that the Swiss government, a long time bilateral donor, joined international efforts to provide assistance and participated in the Tokyo meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan. Furthermore, multilateral agencies and NGOs engaged in relief operations receive financial support from Switzerland. He also pointed out that the long-standing bilateral relations between our two countries were initiated right after Pakistan s independence in 1947, when Switzerland immediately recognised the new state.

The year 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of Swiss diplomatic presence in Karachi. As a matter of fact, in 1949 Switzerland opened its first diplomatic mission in Karachi, which was then called Legation and subsequently became the Embassy. When the Embassy moved to Islamabad in 1968, the Consulate General of Switzerland opened its doors in Karachi to assure a continuous official Swiss presence in this important economic centre.During these six decades, our two countries have been working together in various domains, Martin Bienz. Bienz said that in the 1970s and 1980s, Switzerland concluded several debt-rescheduling agreements with Pakistan. The signing of a bilateral agreement on technical and scientific co-operation led to the opening of the Swiss Co-operation Office in Islamabad in 1977. Over the years, he added, a remarkable number of programmes have been implemented throughout Pakistan and today s focal points are income generation (poverty alleviation) and good governance.

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Monday August 03, 2009

KARACHI: The Results of P.B. Rs. 7500/- held at Sukkur have been announced: 1st Prize of Rs.1500000/- PB# 487306, 2nd Prize of Rs.5000000 /- PB# 880206, PB# 553222, PB# 011297. Complete results of other prizes are available now., Click here to check your draw result!!

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Thursday July 16, 2009

KARACHI: The Results of P.B. Rs. 750/- held at Peshawar have been announced: 1st Prize of Rs. 1500000/- PB# 103583, 2nd Prize of Rs. 500000/- PB# 355235, PB# 878270, PB# 578460 Complete results of other prizes are available now, Click here to check your draw result!!

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Thursday July 16, 2009

KARACHI: The rupee gained sharply on the interbank market on Wednesday, it, however, crossed the barrier of 83 on the open market, analysts said. On the interbank market the rupee managed to gain 18 paisa against dollar for buying at 82.32 and 21 paisa for selling at 82.34, they said.

In the meantime, the rupee showed further decline, touching 83 low level in terms of the US currency, they said. Falling value of rupee on the open market is giving an impression that the rupee may lose further on the interbank market in the near future, they added. They said that slide in rupee's value is benefiting for the textile and rice exporters. It looks that the rupee may continue to fall this year also after an erosion of 30 percent value of the rupee during the last fiscal year, they added. In the third Asian trade yen maintained a soft tone, after falling the previous day when upbeat results from Goldman Sachs and Intel boosted investor risk appetite for stocks and modest hopes for an economic recovery. But some analysts said that the reaction from the currency and stock markets could have been stronger, underlining caution ahead of more earnings results and data.

Open Market Rates: The rupee lost 40 paisa versus dollar for buying at 82.70 and 30 paisa for selling at 83.00, dealers said. The rupee followed same pattern against euro losing 49 paisa for buying and selling at Rs 114.54 and Rs 115.54, they said.

Buying Rs 82.32
Selling Rs 82.34

Interbank Closing Rates: Interbank Closing Rates For Dollar On Wednesday.

Open Buying Rs 82.70
Open Selling Rs 83.00

(BRecorder)

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LONDON: Europe's leading stock markets surged on Wednesday, boosted by Wall Street as investors eyed a global economic recovery following positive earnings and economic data, analysts said.

"Stock markets across Europe rose for the third day in a row on Wednesday after better then expected Intel results after the bell last night," said City Index market analyst Nick Serff, referring to the US technology firm.

London's FTSE 100 gained 2.57 percent to close at 4,346.46 points.

Frankfurt's DAX soared 3.07 percent to close at 4,928.44 points and in Paris the CAC 40 rose 2.90 percent to 3,171.27.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares surged by 3.24 percent to 2,447.58 points.

Wall Street shares shot higher Wednesday after a stronger-than-expected quarterly report for tech giant Intel ignited optimism about the economic and earnings outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted 1.82 percent to 8,511.24 in early trade. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 2.42 percent to 1,843.23 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index climbed 1.82 percent to 922.33.

"Intel Corp.'s solid quarterly report and upbeat outlook have galvanized Wall Street bulls," said Joseph Hargett at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

"The report helped bolster hopes for a solid round of corporate earnings, especially since Goldman Sachs Group took the edge off with its better-than-expected quarterly report on Tuesday morning."

Goldman Sachs posted a net profit of 3.44 billion dollars in the second quarter, topping market expectations and easing fears about a collapsing financial system.

"Investors will be making the most of this post-Goldman optimism," said IG Index market strategist Anthony Grech.

The FTSE was also boosted by British unemployment data.

"Although the unemployment number hit its highest rate since January 1997, the number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by less than expected. This helped the FTSE trade above 4,300 for the first time in weeks," added Serff.

The number claiming unemployment benefits in Britain rose in June at the slowest pace for 13 months, official data showed, but the unemployment rate hit a 12-year high of 7.6 percent, amid Britain's worst recession in decades.

Japanese stocks ended narrowly mixed Wednesday as investors reacted coolly to the gains on Wall Street, dealers said.

Leading the way in London on Wednesday were miners and banks. Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata soared 8.42 percent to 666 pence and Barclays banking group gained 4.43 percent to 313.3 pence.

"Commodity producers are leading the charge higher, as analysts are forecasting increased demand from China," said Grech.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss market Index rose 2.02 percent to 5,473.33, Milan soared 3.68 percent to 19,130, Amsterdam 3.54 percent to 260.82, Madrid 2.82 percent to 9,905.30 and Brussels 2.79 percent to 2,082.29.



(AFP)

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Thursday July 16, 2009

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said that Japan would likely wrestle with deflation through 2011 as it struggles to recover from severe recession. "Inflation is projected to remain negative until 2011," the IMF said in a report. The IMF sees prices falling 1.1 percent this year, 0.8 percent in 2010 and 0.4 percent in 2011. (AFP)

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NEW YORK: US stocks racked up strong gains on Wednesday, sparked by results from bellwether Intel Corp that lifted hopes for a rebound in technology spending and improved corporate profitability.

The broad S&P 500 has gained 6.1 percent so far this week, its best three days since the rally began in March, as companies, including Intel and Goldman Sachs Group, posted much better-than-expected results.

The current earnings season is key as investors look for evidence to support optimism for an economic recovery.

In a sign that consumers might be faring better than feared, US credit card companies said defaults and delinquencies were lower in June than expected. American Express forecast better business in the second half of the year, pushing its stock up 11.3 percent to $27.22. For details, see

Optimism was further reinforced by manufacturing data that suggested the recession is abating, as well as minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy-setting meeting that showed officials judged that the US economy's contraction was slowing.

But Intel set the tone with earnings that handily beat forecasts on better-than-expected consumer demand for personal computers. It also gave a strong outlook and shares of the world's largest chip maker shot up 7.3 percent to $18.05.

"Intel is the guts of the whole technology industry, so when they're talking about consumers getting more active on the PC front, that augers well for a lot of different things," said David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 256.72 points, or 3.07 percent, to 8,616.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 26.84 points, or 2.96 percent, to 932.68, its best gain in nearly two months and putting it solidly back into the black for the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 63.17 points, or 3.51 percent, to 1,862.90.

Along with technology shares, the financial sector led the way higher, with the S&P financial index climbing 4.1 percent. Hopes that banks will report better-than-anticipated quarterly results fuelled Monday's rally. JPMorgan, which releases its scorecard on Thursday, gained 4.5 percent to $36.26.

Intel's results lifted rival Advanced Micro Devices shares, pushing AMD up 8.7 percent to $3.86 on the New York Stock Exchange, while the PHLX semiconductor index jumped 4.4 percent.

Tech will likely continue to be in the spotlight on Thursday with results expected from bellwethers International Business Machines and Google. IBM gave the Dow its biggest boost. IBM's stock climbed 3.9 percent to $107.22 on the NYSE, while Google's shares gained 3.2 percent to $438.17 on Nasdaq.

On the economic front, separate reports showed both industrial output and New York factory activity declined at a slower pace, while consumer prices edged up moderately. The New York Federal Reserve Bank's Empire State business index registered its strongest level since April 2008.

Minutes from last month's FOMC meeting showed central bank policy-makers thought economic growth would resume in the second half of the year, although the economy remained vulnerable.


(Reuters)

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Thursday July 16, 2009

SINGAPORE: Oil prices were up in Asian trade Thursday after a massive rally in US stocks stoked hopes of an early rebound for the global economy, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rose 15 cents to 61.69 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery advanced six cents to 63.15 dollars. The contract will expire later Thursday.

Analysts said oil prices were lifted by overnight gains on Wall Street, with the US Federal Reserve's improved outlook for the US economy giving an additional boost.

"It's the surge in technological and financial stocks on Wall Street that's spilling into the Asian equity markets," said Victor Shum, senior principal of energy consultants Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

This pulled oil prices higher, he added.

"Oil market sentiment was buoyed by gains on US equity markets," the Commonwealth Bank of Australia also said in a report.

Wall Street closed strongly on Wednesday, spurred on by surprisingly good results from tech giant Intel and an improved outlook by the Federal Reserve for the world's biggest economy.

The US central bank raised its outlook for 2009 and 2010, projecting a rebound in the second half of 2009 that would leave the economic contraction for the year at between 1.0 and 1.5 percent.

Markets worldwide closely monitor the health of the US economy because of its role as a key engine for global growth.

A stronger global economy means more demand for oil to power industries and other economic activities, leading to higher prices.

(AFP)

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