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Nepalis arrested with counterfeit currency in Uttar Pradesh
NAT27National/CrimeNepalis arrested with counterfeit currency in Uttar PradeshLucknow, Oct 11 IANS A Nepali youth and his mother have been arrested after being found with counterfeit currency worth Rs.54,000 in Uttar Pradesh, police said Saturday. "The youth and his mother were arrested Friday from the Gola railway station in Lakhimpur Kheri district," police inspector R.K. Singh told IANS on telephone. The district headquarter is about 150 km from Lucknow. The duo have admitted they are a part of a fake currency racket that operates from the Parsa district in Nepal, he added. Significantly, this year nearly 90 cases pertaining to fake currency worth Rs.100 million have been reported from various districts of Uttar Pradesh, police said. -Indo-Asian News Serviceasit/pg/jg129 Words11101457
2008-10-11 06:03:09
Zimbabwe Plans Changes to Currency
HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 27 -- Zimbabwe's bank chief plans new steps to address currency problems -- removing "more zeros" from the plummeting Zimbabwe dollar and raising the limit on cash...
2008-10-11 03:47:48
Pakistan plans to unfreeze stock market by Oct 27
BUS32Business/EconomyPakistan plans to unfreeze stock market by Oct 27Karachi, Oct 10 DPA Pakistan's main Karachi bourse Friday reluctantly decided to unfreeze itself by Oct 27 only if the government fixes a cap on interest rates on loans taken by top brokers, sources said. "The decision to unfreeze is only tentative. We are watching the government to see if it will inject money into the market and put a cap on interest rates," Akeel Karim Dhedhi, chairman of local giant AKD Securities told DPA. The Pakistani stock market, roiled by domestic political instability and economic turmoil, has been virtually closed for the last two months after losing almost 50 percent in value since May. Among the major reasons for the decline is a bleak investment scenario due to growing Islamic insurgency in North West Frontier Province NWFP, a spate of suicide bombings across the country, and mounting tensions between NATO forces and the Afghan government. Meanwhile, the recent credit crunch has caused the interest rates on short-term loans to shoot up to an all time high of 60 percent. Dhedhi said the directors of Karachi Stock Exchange in a meeting with the state watchdog, the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan SECP, had demanded a cap on interest rates at 24 percent. Dhedhi said the meeting was still going on and no decision was taken so far whether the SECP would convince the financial institutions to lower the interest rates for brokers. Some brokers have borrowed billions of Pakistani rupees $1 equals to 80 rupees from banks to buy shares. "Many top guns of the market are at the verge of bankruptcy," said Mudassar Malik director at the BMA Capital Management. Though the central State Bank of Pakistan has pumped more than 20 billion rupees $240 million in the money market this week the interest rates kept climbing. Pakistan is currently facing inflation of more than 25 percent and a widening current-account deficit of over $14 billion.The country's currency has depreciated by 22 percent since January.--DPAsnb/vt364 Words10102242
2008-10-10 13:03:06
Greater clarity on meltdown making investors jittery
ECO14Economy/National/InternationalGreater clarity on meltdown making investors jitteryBy Arjun SenNew Delhi, Oct 10 IANS Investors around the world are getting increasingly jittery each passing day as they are gaining greater clarity on the repercussions and side effects of the financial tsunami that began in the US and has now engulfed almost every economy in the world."Each passing day investors are gaining clarity on the side-effects of the financial tsunami and they are getting more and more nervous," analyst Jagannadham Thunuguntla told the IANS.Thunuguntla is the head of the capital markets arm of India's fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.The latest development that has left investors shivering is the collapse of what is called the 'yen carry trade'.Owing to deflationary conditions in the Japanese economy, the interest rate there has come down to just 0.5 percent.Taking advantage of this, foreign institutional investors FIIs and hedge funds borrowed yen denominated loans from Japanese banks and reinvested these funds after conversion into other currencies. As the cost of these funds was only 0.5 percent, FIIs and hedge funds often invested in assets where the return was sometimes as low as 2-3 percent as these still enjoyed a spread. Over the last few days, however, the yen has been strengthening against the dollar because of the financial crisis in the US. Just a few days back, the conversion rate was 106 yen to a dollar, but Friday the rate rose to 98 yen to a dollar."This means that now FIIs and hedge funds have to repay a lot more dollars for every yen that they had borrowed and the cost of their yen-denominated loans has actually gone up from 0.5 percent to as much as 5-6 percent," Thunuguntla said."This means, with more and more FIIs and hedge funds now being forced to repay what has become high-cost yen-denominated loans, their losses too are climbing," he added.Consequently, they are getting into fire sale situations in most global markets to raise money to repay these yen-denominated loans, besides being already under redemption pressure, he said.In the Indian markets too, FIIs and hedge funds are selling indiscriminately and that is one of the major reasons why the market is crashing."The ill-effects of over-leveraging are also becoming clearer and clearer," said portfolio strategist and US-trained chartered financial analyst Manoj Krishnan of Delhi-based Price Investment Management and Research Services.Analysts said Iceland is an excellent case study in over-leveraging because the story is the same for all troubled investment banks and financial institutions.Iceland has nationalised all its three banks and the country's entire banking system has collapsed. Yet, in the four years - 2004 to 2008 - their bank assets grew five times through excessive borrowing, analysts said.Now the total debt of these banks at $61 billion is five times the country's GDP and the per capita debt of each Icelander is a whopping $276,000.Their currency krona has also crashed. One month back, the conversion rate was 120 krona to an euro. Now it is 330 krona. "That means the currency value has eroded by three times, and this will lead to runaway inflation because final consumption will not come down, imports will be costlier while GDP growth will be negative," Thunuguntla told IANS."The real problem is that the crises in the financial markets are now creeping into the real economy," Krishnan told IANS.German bank Hypo Real Estate is another example. Hypo has a banking unit called Depsta. It used to stand guarantor to infrastructure projects so that these projects could get financing at rates that made them viable and take a commission in return.Owing to Depsta's guarantee, these projects could get funds at 5-6 percent instead of 10 percent and above. With Hypo Real Estate now getting into trouble, the Depsta guarantees have become meaningless.Now all those projects that were viable due to cheaper funds by courtesy of the Depsta guarantee have suddenly become all unviable and promoters are being forced to stop work on them, the analysts said. "This will inevitably impact the real economy in an adverse way," said Naresh Pachisia, managing director of Kolkata-based SKP Securities, a leading distributor of financial products and services in eastern India.The decision by the Reserve Bank of India RBI to cut the cash reserve ratio is also not cutting much ice with investors mainly because such measures too can lead to repercussions on the real economy, Pachisia told IANS."Moreover, India has so far followed a conservative policy regime with regard to banks and that's why they are better off than US or European banks as they are well capitalised and not over-leveraged," said Thunuguntla."But now if the RBI opts for a more liberalised policy then Indian banks too will go in for over-leveraging and then the repercussions here will be much more severe," he added.These are only some of the side effects that are making investors so nervous and there are many more, the analysts said.--Indo-Asian News Servicearj/ank/vt 909 Words*10101743
2008-10-10 08:00:00
Two arrested, fake currency seized in Uttar Pradesh
NAT41National/CrimeTwo arrested, fake currency seized in Uttar PradeshLucknow, Oct 10 IANS A youth was arrested Friday from Lucknow's Charbagh railway station for possessing counterfeit currency nominally worth of Rs.1,500, the police said. Later, another youth was arrested and high quality paper and fake currency manufacturing equipment were recovered in this Uttar Pradesh capital. "During interrogation Rahul, a native of Delhi, revealed that he is living in a rented house in the Naka locality in Lucknow and we conducted a raid there," inspector Tripurari Pandey of the Government Railway Police GRP told IANS.Besides recovering a computer, a colour scanner and some high quality blank paper used in manufacturing fake notes, the police also arrested another youth, Jitendra from Rahul's house."We are interrogating both of them and hope to extract vital clues regarding the source of the paper and other raw material," Pandey added.--Indo-Asian News Servicerr/ak/dg152 Words10101730
2008-10-10 08:00:00
Moscow, Oct 10 RIA Novosti Russian bourses Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange MICEX and Russian Trading System RTS were partially closed Friday on instructions from the financial markets' regulator.
BUS11BusinessMICEX, RTS partially closed FridayMoscow, Oct 10 RIA Novosti Russian bourses Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange MICEX and Russian Trading System RTS were partially closed Friday on instructions from the financial markets' regulator.Prior to their usual 10.30 a.m. Moscow time 0630 GMT opening, both exchanges said they would remain closed and were awaiting further instructions, although an RTS spokesman said it would allow trading in repo contracts and bond repurchases. There was no immediate official word on when the two bourses will resume trading."Trading is expected to resume after the State Duma adopts a package of anti-crisis measures," said Alexei Serov, acting chief analyst at the Financial Bridge asset management company.The Dow Jones index plummeted Thursday below 9,000 points for the first time since 2003, and the Standard and Poors S and P index dropped 7.6 percent to 909.92 points despite the move by central banks around the globe to cut interest rates. European stock exchange indexes fell 1.2-2.5 percent Thursday and the Asian stock markets have been sinking Friday on the back of the US falls. US President George W. Bush is expected to address the nation later Friday. According to the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, Bush plans to assure Americans that his administration will do its best to overcome the crisis. The British FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX index plunged by more than 10 percent Friday and the French CAC index lost 9.77 percent. --RIA Novostipb/dkg/dg274 Words10101405
2008-10-10 05:05:08
Nikkei plunges below 9,000 after five years Lead
INT16International/Business/EconomyNikkei plunges below 9,000 after five years LeadTokyo, Oct 10 DPA Stocks in Tokyo continued their downward course Friday, with the Nikkei plunging below the psychologically significant mark of 9,000 points for the first time in more than five years. A drop in the opening minutes came after US stocks plummeted Thursday. At mid-morning the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 974.12 points, or 10.64 percent, to 8,183.37. Earlier, the Nikkei had fallen 1,042.08 points, or 11.38 percent, to 8,115.41. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues shed 75.20 points, or 8.31 percent, to 829.91 in morning trading. This was a reaction to US stocks plummeting again Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping below 9,000 points for the first time in five years, as a series of US and global efforts to tackle the financial crisis have failed to calm investors. Both the blue-chip Dow and broader Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled more than 7 percent. The Dow dropped 678.91 points, or 7.33 percent, to 8,579.19. The S&P fell 75.02 points, or 7.62 percent, to 909.92. On currency markets the dollar traded weaker at 99.02-07 yen, down from Thursday's 5 p.m. quote of 101.16-18 yen. The euro was quoted at $1.3558-63, down from late Thursday's quote of $1.3734-35, and at 134.27-37 yen, down from 138.94-98 yen.--DPAskp/jg264 Words*10100853
2008-10-10 00:02:04
FRANKFURT
BUS7BusinessEuropean stocks stage cautious recovery LeadFrankfurt, Oct 9 DPA European stocks staged a cautious recovery Thursday, helped along by an element of calm returning to share markets in Asia and the US after this week's panic share sell off around the world. Europe's benchmark Stoxx 50 index was trading up by 0.6 percent at 2,375 by late morning trading Thursday. The signs of a brittle calm returning to European stock trading came after fears about the economic fallout from the global credit crunch led to the dramatic falls on stock markets around the world. Dealers said that despite the initial lukewarm investor reaction to Wednesday's co-ordinated global rate cut, the 50 basis points reduction in borrowing costs in leading world economies was now also helping to shore up confidence. This in turn gave the euro a new firmer sense of direction with the European common currency rising by about 1.0 percent to $1.3742 Thursday. While Europe's premiere stock market in London had gained more than 2.0 percent by late morning, Paris' CAC 40 was up 2.65 percent and Frankfurt's DAX had climbed by 1.45 percent. Shares in emerging markets also gained ground, with stocks in Warsaw rising by 0.55 per cent and the Moscow stock market rebounding after a week of massive losses in Russia's worst financial crisis since the collapse of the ruble in 1998. At one point during trading Thursday, Moscow's benchmark RTS index had jumped by 15.77 per cent. After a further slide in shares on Wall Street Wednesday, a 1.6 percent increase in US futures also pointed to a more positive opening in New York, the world's biggest share market.--DPAdkg308 Words09101636
2008-10-09 07:04:07
Pakistani rupee plunges to new record low
INT73International/EconomyPakistani rupee plunges to new record lowKarachi, Oct 8 DPA The Pakistani rupee Wednesday again fell to a record low against the US dollar to close at 80.30 amid a severe foreign exchange shortage and concerns of default on foreign debt repayments. The rupee closed at 80.10-80.30 in the open market against the dollar compared with 79.30-79.60 Tuesday despite the fact that the central State Bank of Pakistan intervened to improve liquidity. Traders said the central bank's injection of around $100 million failed to break the liquidity crunch as demand for the dollar continued to soar over rising concerns of default. Foreign exchange reserves with the central bank have fallen by around 70 percent during the last nine months to $4.68 billion, barely enough to meet one month of imports. Pakistan's external debt servicing cost is $3 billion a year, including $500 million due in February, with imports of around $40 billion and exports of less than $30 billion. Presently, the country is facing a current account deficit of around $14 billion along with an inflation rate of more than 25 percent, which doubled during the last 12 months. Analysts say in the given circumstances the central bank is inching towards using private foreign currency accounts, something it did in 1998 after freezing bank accounts. Both Moody's and Standard & Poor's, two leading credit rating agencies, have already downgraded Pakistan to negative and termed the country among the "riskiest" in the world. Pakistan is planning to send a delegation to the United States next week to seek $10 billion in emergency assistance to pay its debt. --DPAsy/dg295 Words08101939
2008-10-08 10:00:00
Mumbai, Oct 8 IANS The National Multi Commodity Exchange of India NMCE is planning to raise Rs.1 billion $22 million through issue of fresh shares to its present stakeholders, including Reliance Money, which acquired 10 percent stake in the bourse last week.
BUS24BusinessNational Multi Commodity Exchange to raise Rs.1 bnMumbai, Oct 8 IANS The National Multi Commodity Exchange of India NMCE is planning to raise Rs.1 billion $22 million through issue of fresh shares to its present stakeholders, including Reliance Money, which acquired 10 percent stake in the bourse last week. "We are undergoing a major restructuring of the exchange. We are redesigning our existing products and launching new products like spot exchanges and currency futures," NMCE managing director Kailash Gupta told IANS, while unveiling the new corporate identity for the exchange.The Ahmedabad-based exchange will relocate its base to Mumbai and spread out to over 50 locations all over India.Reliance Money director and chief executive and NMCE director Sunil Bandyopadhyay said: "We want to expand our membership network and want to reach out to huge investor base through various tie-ups." He, however, refused to divulge details regarding the same, but said the money raised would be used to fund expansion plans.NMCE is the oldest and smallest of India's three national-level commodity derivatives exchange. The others are Multi Commodity Exchange of India and National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange of India.--Indo-Asian News Servicevb/sj/dg204 Words08101702
2008-10-08 09:00:00