Daily Excelsior...Business

Asia stocks steady
ahead of expected
US rate cut

SINGALORE, Nov 5: Asia’s financial markets were treading water today while anticipating the US federal reserve will slash interest rates for a 10th ......more

CRISIL launches CYTL

MUMBAI, Nov 5: Rating agency Credit Rating Information Serivces of India Limited (CRISIL) has today launched the ‘CRISIL Young Thought Leader ......more

Farmers call for a halt
on further liberalisation

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The National Co-ordination Committee of Farmers Movement today urged the Government to demand a moratoriaum on any ......more

4 MoUs signed between
India, Russian

MOSCOW, Nov 5: Promotion of Indian studies in Russia will get a big boost with the signing of four Memorandam of Understanding today with four top ....more

OPEC may cut oil output
by a mnbarrels a day

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5: The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may cut oil production by a million barrels per day to ......more

RBI rejects 3 bids

MUMBAI, Nov 5: The Reserve Rank of India (RBI) today rejected three bids it received for Rs 100 crore in the newly introduced 14-day repo auction held here. ..... more

Samajwadi opposes
any move to allow
FDI in print media

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Samajwadi Party today opposed any move by the Government to allow non-news foreign journals.....more

ESC brings out
CD-ROM on emerging
software markets

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), an autonomous organisation under the........more

Asia stocks steady ahead of expected US rate cut

SINGALORE, Nov 5: Asia’s financial markets were treading water today while anticipating the US federal reserve will slash interest rates for a 10th time this year to shore up an economy whose troubles have rippled around the world.

The dollar was trading firmer in Asia on the rate cut factor. But withering expectations that Europe would follow suit put the euro under pressure in late morning trade today.

Tokyo stocks closed a tad higher today after moping for most of the day about mobile phone giant NTT Docomo.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 63.76 points, or 0.61 percent, at 10447.54. Docomo faced pressure after reports, later backed up by a source close to the company, that it was expected to write down special losses on its stake in dutch mobile telecoms carrier KPN mobile. The dollar was firmer against the yen in late morning trade in tokyo as a staggering fall in US non-farm payrolls fanned expectations of another US interest rate cut on Tuesday.

The greenback was at 121.83/89 yen at 0621 gmt compared with 121.64/72 yen in late New York on Friday.

The euro hit one-week lows against the dollar and yen today amid doubts that Europe would follow the US fed with a rate cut of its own and a report suggesting European Governments may be masking the true extent of their budget deficits.

The euro had dropped to 0.8865 cents by 0621 gmt, compared with 0.9023/27 in late New York on Friday.

Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke said on Saturday rates in Germany were at historic lows, his second indication in as many days the European cental bank may leave interest rates alone this week. Welteke’s comments came amid increasing pressure for rate reductions to give a boost to sagging euro-zone growth.

The currency markets will be watching closely for any clues from ECB President Wim Duisenberg at a meeting of euro zone Finance Ministers later today.

China took a significant step towards opening its potentially huge market, announcing today it will allow foreign investors to buy into funds investing in the domestic stock market after the country joins the World Trade Organisation later this year.

Under current regulations, foreigners are banned from investing in China’s 600 billion domestic a share market and can trade only on the tiny hard currency b share market consisting of about 100 companies.

The news failed to ignite China’s share markets which were jittery about the first initial public offering on the Shanghai market in three months. Trading today focused on so-called wto plays, companies expected to benefit from China’s entry to the global trade body.

Hong Kong stocks inched higher, with shares of dominant television broadcaster Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB) surging after it said late on Friday it has formed a joint venture with CITVC, a wholly owned unit of Beijing-owned China central television.

But the broader market was quiet ahead of the fed meeting. The United States is Hong Kong’s second biggest trading partner and closely tracks interest rate moves because of the territory’s currency peg to the US dollar.

Indeed, the fate of all the export-oriented tiger and dragon economies in East Asia is entwined with America’s.

South Korean financial shares led the market to close higher today on expectations the United States and South Korea would cut interest rates this week.

The central bank of Korea is scheduled to hold its monthly Monetary Policy Board meeting on Thursday to set November rate targets. Korea has slashed rates four times this year by a combined 125 basis points.

The benchmark Kospi index closed up 11.05 points, or 2.01 percent, at 561.62.

Singapore shares were trading lower by mid-afternoon today in quiet trade led by banks, after DBS group, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, announced a s 2.1 billion share placement, raising concern over the earnings outlook for the financial sector.

The Australian stockmarket closed lower today as investors sold off media and financial stocks in cautious trading ahead of Saturday’s national election. (REUTERS)

CRISIL launches CYTL

MUMBAI, Nov 5: Rating agency Credit Rating Information Serivces of India Limited (CRISIL) has today launched the ‘CRISIL Young Thought Leader Series (CYTL), a unique initiative to encourage research and debate on issues on national relevance.

CYTL series invites dissertations from students from leading business and economic shools in India on topics ranging from economy, infrastructure and corporate strategy to national policy, with particular emphasis on points of inflection in the marketplace and the emerging trends.

According to CRISIL, it would leverage its reckonable standing in the industry as an opinion leader and an influence of decision-making at the policy, institutional and corporate levels to offer a unique platform to young students, a platform to take their ideas from the theoretical realm to the practical world of business.

Crisil will choose the ten best dissertations from the lots received, and honour the authors with the title of ‘CRISIL Young Thought Leader, and pay an honorarium of Rs 5,000 each. It will also choose the first among these equals as the CYTL of the year, with a prize money of Rs 25,000.

CRISIL seeks to take up a more active role in nation-building as well as in buttressing its own research capabilities in the wake of the heightened role of knowledge-organisations like itself in the changing landscape of global business, the release added. (UNI)

Farmers call for a halt on further liberalisation

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The National Co-ordination Committee of Farmers Movement today urged the Government to demand a moratoriaum on any further trade liberalisation initiatives in the coming world trade organistion talks as the present trend had "created strong trade imbalances".

In their memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Bharatiya Kisan Union president Chaudhary Mahinder Singh Tikait and Karnataka Farmers Association president M D Nanjundaswamy said that it was time to acknowledge the "crisis" in the present international trading system and the WTO. "Time has come to recognise the fraudulent misuse of various provisions of this system and consequent creation of grave imbalances. The agreement on agriculture was one glaring example where subsidies to the export oriented industrial farming were rising whereas the small farmers in developing countries were suffering from import liberalisation which was wiping out their livelihoods."

While the November nine talks were named "development round’, the real agenda was expansion of corporate access and privileges under WTO regime to investment and Government procurement, they alleged.

The leaders said the Government should say a "firm no" to the new round of talks and use voting rights in the WTO to block any new issues coming up on the agenda. The existing agreements should be reviewed and should strive for replacing the unfair and oppressive trade system with new socially just and sustainable trading framework, Mr Yadhvir Singh, Convenor Secretary of the National Coordination, said. (UNI)

4 MoUs signed between India, Russian

MOSCOW, Nov 5: Promotion of Indian studies in Russia will get a big boost with the signing of four Memorandam of Understanding today with four top educational institutions across the country during the visit of the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The MoUs were signed with the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; St.Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg; Kazan State University, Tatarstan and Far Eastern National University, Vladivostok.

Officials of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy here initialled the documents on behalf of India.

The promotion of Indian studies encompass both the educational and research areas.

The signing of these MoUs will encourage diversified and constructive dialogue while strengthening the academic and cultural relations between people of India and Russia besides enhancing the understanding of young Russian scholars about India.

In the field of academics, the Russian institutions will also bring out various publications relating to India and also promote publication in Russian language of various Indian clasical and contemporary works. (PTI)

OPEC may cut oil output by a mnbarrels a day

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5: The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may cut oil production by a million barrels per day to boost prices, its Secretary General said today.

OPEC ministers meeting November 14 in Vienna would decide whether to slash output by a million BPD or more if prices plunged further, Ali Rodriguez told a press conference on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) oil conference here.

He said the outcome hinged on the cooperation of non-OPEC members in cutting output in a bid to boost prices that have slumped to two-year lows since the Sept 11 attacks on the US.

"We will make some decision in the next conference in Vienna. The first is to ensure full compliance of our committment (to market stabilisation), the second probably is to reduce production again by one million BPD," he said.

"But it is very important, extremely important (to have) cooperation of non-OPEC producers. We should reduce production again in order to balance the supply with the demand."

Under the present OPEC agreement, member nations are producing about 23 million BPD, he said.

Rodriguez described the current oversupply situation in the global oil market as "transitory" and said he believed the outlook would improve next year.

"We have no concerns about the medium-term or long-term but we have to fight the problem in the short-term," he said.

Asked how far oil prices are expected to fall, Rodriguez said: "That’s impossible to say... I am not a prophet but I believe that this is directly related to the performance by the economy. (AFP)

Samajwadi opposes any move to allow FDI in print media

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Samajwadi Party today opposed any move by the Government to allow non-news foreign journals to be brought out from India saying it would eventually pave the way for entry of foreign equity in print media.

"Such a move is fraught with danger as it would jeopardise the country’s interest by influencing the public opinion," Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav told PTI.

He said the move could one day pave the way for publication of foreign newspapers from India.

"Samajwadi Party has always opposed every thing foreign, including entry of foreign goods under the WTO agreement," he said reacting to reports that a move was afoot to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in print media. (PTI)

ESC brings out CD-ROM on emerging software markets

NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), an autonomous organisation under the Department of Information Technology, has brought out a CD-ROM aimed at expanding the customer base of Indian software industry with critical leads about emerging it markets in 23 countries.

This is part of a pro-active export promotion strategy to counter the slowdown in India’s traditional IT export markets and to tap emerging markets which have immense inherent potential, ESC Executive Director D K Sareen has said.

The emerging markets covered by the CD-ROM included Australia, Germany, France, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Japan, China, Israel, the UAE, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile and Mauritius.

It contains systemized information relating to prevailing economic situation, it scenario, areas of growth in it, rule and regulations and specific business leads.It also has 18,000 contacts and trade leads which would be beneficial to software exporting countries in diverifying their markets.

ESC analysis of individual countries reveal that europe will register an IT growth rate of 8.9 next year with a market value of 650 billion euros. The next single market is Japan with more than 80 billion dollars, followed by Australia with 19.3 billion dollars. (UNI)