‘Pak-Malaysia trade to touch new heights’

LAHORE: The trade volume between Pakistan and Malaysia is likely to touch new peaks as a number of Malaysian companies and businessmen have shown readiness to initiate joint ventures with Pakistani counterparts.

It was hoped during LCCI delegation's meetings at various Malaysian chambers and trade bodies.

The LCCI delegation had a meeting at Malay Chamber of Commerce & Industry where the President of Malay Chamber of Commerce & Industry  Mr. Dewn Perniagaan Melayu gave a detailed briefing to the LCCI delegation headed by former LCCI Senior Vice President Sohail Lashari.

The delegation also visited MATRADE Exhibition and Convention Center. During the visit the delegates had  meetings with counterparts arranged by MATRADE and Pakistan Commercial Counsellor.

During one to one meetings business opportunities were discussed, particularly in textile, auto parts, rice, agricultural implements, recreational activities and steel sector.

It is worthwhile to mention that the meetings remained very fruitful and it is hoped that exports opportunities would be availed by some delegates.

During the meetings, Sohail Lashari informed these chambers and trade associations about the delegation purpose, business, investment opportunities and law and order in Pakistan. - APP

KSE ends almost flat; rupee firmer

KARACHI: Karachi Stock  Exchange ended almost flat on Friday as cautious investors sold shares above the 10,000-point level ahead of the weekend, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index edged 6.94 points, or 0.07 percent, lower to end at 10,000.93 on turnover of 123.63 million shares.

"The market stayed flat as investors sold above 10,000 points and with no immediate catalyst, they shied away from holding onto positions over the weekend," said Asad Iqbal, managing director at Ismail Iqbal Securities Ltd.

Dealers also said there had been a slowdown in foreign buying the previous day which compounded the caution.

Foreign investors bought shares worth a net $361,854 on Thursday compared with $13.73 million on Wednesday, according to official data.

Dealers said investors were also cautious because of a delay in an International Monetary Fund board meeting to approve the fifth tranche of a $1.2 billion loan for Pakistan.

Pakistani officials had earlier said the IMF board meeting was due on March 24. But a Finance Ministry official said on Friday it had been rescheduled for March 31. The official did not give a reason.

In the currency market, the rupee ended firmer at 84.10/20 to the dollar compared with Thursday's close of 84.20/30 amid a lack of import payments, dealers said. The rupee has firmed 0.24 percent against the dollar this year after losing 6.17 percent last year, and a 22.12 percent slide in 2008.

In the overnight market, short-term money rates ended flat at top levels at 12.40 percent, unchanged from Thursday's close because of tight liquidity in the interbank market.

Dealers said there were no scheduled inflows or outflows on Friday.

The next outflow is scheduled for Saturday, of 60 billion rupees, and the next inflow is scheduled for March 25 of 65 billion rupees.- Reuters

Karachi Chamber urges implementation of TOO-2007

Karachi: Trade Organisations Ordinance-2007 should be validated and implemented for the sake of economy of the country as its implementation puts an end to the irregularities in the process of registration of trade bodies, Siraj Kassam Teli, Chairman Businessmen Group and former President-KCCI, said on Friday.

While defending the Trade Organisations Ordinance (TOO-2007), Siraj Teli, asserted implementation of TOO-2007, and said it was the fulfilment of long standing demand of the Business & Industrial Community to change the outdated Trade Ordinance of 1961 through which mushroom growth of many bogus and non representative trade bodies had taken place.

''Since this TOO-2007 was made with the consensus of all the Business and Industrial Community for the betterment of the trade bodies, therefore, it is only fair that this Ordinance should not be allowed to lapse nor any changes be made in isolation without consulting all the Business and Industrial Community of Pakistan,'' Siraj Teli added.

Siraj Teli said that all the rules and regulations laid in the Ordinance should be followed in toto in the light of the recommendations of Justice (R) Saleem Akhtar.

The Provisions of TOO-2007 are serving as cordon against the registration of the fake and paper-based trade bodies and it has constrained the mushroom growth of fake and paper-based trade bodies which remained a huge problem that necessitated the promulgation of the Trade Organisations Ordinance-2007. - PPI

LSM registers 2.34pc growth

Statesman Report

ISLAMABAD: After tough days in 2009, Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) registered substantial growth of 7.46 percent in January over the corresponding period last year.

The strong performance of the sector in January also pushed up the overall growth figures of the current financial year as in July to January 2009-10, it grew 2.34 percent over the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

The break-up of industrial sector showed that the petroleum sector continued performing dismally and Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) index recorded fell immensely 9.16 percent in January and 6.49 percent in first seven months of this fiscal year.

Analysts pointed out that the number of issues are still impeding the growth in the industrial production like high financing cost, growing prices of utilities and above all the prolonged power outages in the industrial hubs of the country are giving a severe blow to industries.

China tells Washington to cool yuan pressure

BEIJING: China is sending a Cabinet official to Washington in a bid to defuse trade tensions, the government said Friday, as it called on U.S. leaders to cool the "politicisation and emotionalisation" of a currency dispute.

A deputy commerce minister, Zhong Shan, will go to Washington on Wednesday to meet with American trade, commerce and Treasury officials and members of Congress, the Commerce Ministry said. It said they would discuss the Sino-U.S. trade gap and trade disputes.

Beijing faces demands by some U.S. lawmakers for President Barack Obama to have China declared a currency manipulator in a Treasury Department report due out next month. That could set the stage for possible trade sanctions.

Critics say China's yuan is undervalued by up to 40 percent, giving its exporters an unfair advantage and swelling its trade surplus.

"A lot of problems can be properly solved so long as we can avoid politicisation and emotionalisation," a Commerce Ministry official, He Ning, told reporters. "It should not be one side pressing the other side."

He warned that dialogue with Washington might be harmed by "external disturbances" such as this week's letter from 130 American lawmakers calling on Obama to take action.

Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday denied the yuan is undervalued and other officials have dismissed complaints that exchange-rate controls are the cause of China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus.

Wen promised reforms but said the yuan will be kept at a "stable and balanced" level.

Analysts expect Beijing to allow the yuan to rise gradually this year but say Chinese leaders might be reluctant to act if they might be seen as giving in to U.S. pressure.

Also Friday, China tried to put a human face on its resistance, warning that exporters might be driven out of business if the yuan rises further.

At a news conference organised by a state-authorised trade group, managers of four companies pleaded for Washington to back down.

"We are facing great pressure to survive," said Bai Ming, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Mingfeng Car Accesories Co., which employs 950 people and exports car covers to the Americas, Europe and South Korea. - AP

Google to leave China April 10: state media

SHANGHAI: US Internet giant Google will close its business in China next month and may announce its plans in the coming days, Chinese media reported on Friday, after rows over censorship and hacking. The China Business News quoted an official with an unidentified Chinese advertising agency as saying Google would go through with its threatened withdrawal on April 10, but that Google had yet to confirm the pull-out.

The agency is a business partner of Google, the report said.

The report did not specify whether Google would close all or part of its operations in the country.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified Google staff member as saying the company may announce on Monday the details of its exit from China and compensation for its local staff.

Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang declined to comment on the report, telling AFP only that there had been "no update" on the company's situation.

The report was the latest in a series of clues to emerge recently indicating Google planned to leave China, which has the world's largest population of online users, at 384 million.

Google has cried foul over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The Financial Times reported last week that Google was "99.9 percent" certain to abandon google.cn, citing an unnamed source.

Chinese media said Wednesday that Google sent a notice to clients saying google.cn could close at the end of March. - AFP