Business

KAULA LUMPUR: The department of veterinary services (DVS), ministry of agriculture and members of the Malaysian agro-based industry has approved an 'abattoir and processing plant' set up in Pakistan to export halal meat to Malaysia.
According to Pakistan's high commission in Kaula Lumpur, the DVS, Malaysia has informed the Pakistan high commission that after considerable inspections of abattoirs and processing plants in Pakistan by DVS and department of Islamic development

MOSCOW: California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, on Monday led a high-powered delegation of tech executives to Russia, praising President Dmitry Medvedev as a visionary for moving to a high-tech future. The delegation includes figures like former Intel chairman Craig Barrett and leading executives from companies like Google, Microsoft and Oracle.
Schwarzenegger was taken by Medvedev to the site of one of his most ambitious projects, the creation Russian equivalent of Silicon

Islamabad: PTCL broadband service has achieved another milestone with introduction of a new 10Mbps Broadband package.
SEVP Commercial, Naveed Saeed said that provision of different packages, bandwidth speed and now with the introduction of 10MBPS package, PTCL broadband becomes the obvious and best choice for customers who are looking for high speed internet usage.
Multimedia and Broadband EVP, Zomma Mohiuddin said that PTCL has taken a number of initiatives which has

LAHORE: The Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) remained range-bound on Tuesday, as it suffered a decline in turnover and closed in red zone.
Fertiliser sector remained the centre of attraction for investors despite a range-bound market. The LSE 25-shares index lost 4.46 points to close at 3,200.87 against its opening at 3,205.14 levels. Volume of the market declined by 0.84 million shares to close at 2.29 million shares.
Out of 112 active scrips, 23 went up, 32 declined and 57

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) index depreciated on Tuesday as investors nervously wait for a hearing by the Supreme Court on a government appeal against the overturning of the amnesty law.
The law allowed some formerly active politicians to return but was rescinded in December 2009 by the Supreme Court. The hearing is due on Wednesday.
"The market remained subdued prior to the NRO (National Reconciliation Order) hearing tomorrow and investors are waiting for

KARACHI: The country's textile sector maintained a fantastic performance during the financial year 2010 posting remarkable annual growth in earnings of 690 percent.
The sector's top-line also grew by a respectable 27 percent to Rs 277 billion in 2010. Pakistani textile exports blossomed not only on the back of good prices fetched in both domestic and oversea markets, but also a rise of production volume and the rupee's depreciation against the dollar (average six percent in

Karachi: The federal government, it is alleged, in a surprising move, is directing the Sindh government to pursue the relocation of a functioning sugar mill from Benazirabad (Nawabshah) to the nearby Sanghar district, citing the environment hazard the mill posed.
Interestingly, a senior bureaucrat, a member of the Board of Revenue who also holds the additional charge of Chief Secretary Sindh, Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha has summoned a meeting of the management of the above-mentioned

KARACHI: Pakistan's economic outlook gained a fillip in the strong exports growth of 16.7 percent in first quarter of 2010-11. From July-Sept 2010, the exports ascended to $5.179 billion compared to $4.437 billion at this time last year. However, on a negative note, imports also increased by 19.02 percent in first quarter of this fiscal and rose to $9.029 billion.
In terms of rupees the exports improved by 21.05 percent, to Rs443.44 billion in the wake of further devaluation of

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce has convened a meeting of important industrialists on Thursday to formulate a strategy on how to derive the greatest benefit from the European Union's (EU) waiver of approximately $ 900 million of tarrifs in 75 Pakistan product categories.
The Minister for Commerce, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, will chair the meeting on Thursday in Karachi. Meanwhile, Secretary Commerce Zafar Mehmood and newly appointed Chief Executive of Trade Development Authority

NEW DELHI: The Indian government will raise up to $3.5 billion from a price band of 225 rupees to 245 rupees for state-run Coal India's initial public offering, the largest in the country's corporate history.
The Indian government is selling 631.6 million shares, or 10 percent stake in the world's largest coal miner. The share sale is part of the country's plan to divest its stakes in roughly 60 companies over the next few years.
"I think the pricing is much better than

LONDON: Gold eased in Europe on Tuesday as the dollar rebounded on the back of uncertainty over the extent of quantitative easing (QE) expected from U.S. authorities, denting interest in the metal as a haven from weak currencies.
Spot gold was bid at $1,344.30 an ounce at 1121 GMT, against $1,352.95 late in New York on Monday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell $9.20 an ounce to $1,345.20.
Prices rallied to a record $1,364.60 an ounce last week as expectations the

DUBAI: Dubai's Emirates airlines, the Middle East's largest carrier, denied on Tuesday receiving government subsidies, hitting back at European claims that it was competing on the back of state aid.
"We have grown without subsidy through the success of our commercially driven business model and see no reason to apologise for what we have achieved," president Tim Clark said in a statement.
"When so many entities and economies around the world are being shored up by

ISLAMABAD: Commerce Ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan are expected to sign a final draft of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) in Kabul in the next few days.
Official sources at the Commerce Ministry informed that the visit of Commerce Minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim was being worked out with the Afghan government. They said the agreement was likely to be signed by the two commerce ministers, either this week or next week.
The Federal Cabinet

NEW DELHI: A surge in global corn prices and expectations of a drop in domestic rates will help India seal more export deals in the coming weeks, traders and analysts said on Monday.
Corn prices in Chicago surged as much as 45 cents to hit $5.73-

LONDON: Gold prices rose again, touching $1,350 an ounce in Europe, and silver touched a new 30-year high on Monday. It came amid rumors that the United States will shortly introduce further monetary easing.
Spot gold was bid at $1,348.70 an ounce at 1122 GMT, against $1,343.25 late in New York on Friday. US gold futures for December delivery rose $4.50 an ounce to $1,349.80. Spot gold is still within sight of last week's record $1,364.60.
The dollar slipped on Monday

LONDON: Oil rose for a second straight session on Monday, boosted by the dollar's continuing fall against a range of currencies, which outweighed news that China had tightened its monetary policy. Prices touched a five-month intra-day high of $84.43 last week.
Weakness in the greenback boosts the dollar value of oil, which is usually traded in the US currency.
Oil was "in a kind of win-win situation", where weak economic data supported prices by increasing expectations, but

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) exhibited a mixed performance on Monday and was pushed despite the extremely low turnover and gained 62 points at the closing.
The pressing lack of any new information on the status of margin trading system (MTS), gloomy financial prognosis, the dire lack of security, and the continuing row between the judiciary and the government all played a role in depressing the market. According to an unofficial update, the proposed MTS system