Sunday, 30 December, 2012

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Power and gas outages in the country haveyielded into Rs 200 billion annual losses tothe textile sector during last four years.

According to letter written from the min-istry of Textile Industry to the ministry of Waterand power, Petroleum and Natural Resources,textile sector has been termed as export ori-ented sector that not only contributes in billionof rupees to the national economy but also pro-vided jobs to millions of people in the country.

Sources revealed that though export ofraw cotton, cotton yarn and export of lowvalue-added textiles had increased, yet thevalue-added apparel and home textile ex-ports declined considerably during the lastfour years. Bumper cotton production wasrecorded in the country during this period oftime, however due to gas and power short-age, the industry was unable to consume thecrop for value-added production.

Due to tariff concession, easy market ac-cess, improved law and order situation andgood energy supply in Bangladesh, Turkey

and Sri Lanka, some textile units have relo-cated there. Availability of utilities, low utilityprice and subsidies that have been providedby competitor governments are disadvantag-ing textile exports of Pakistan. Further, dueto poor law and order situation, productionlosses have increased, but the main reasonbehind these losses was gas and power short-age in the country, sources maintained.

To address the issues of textiles sectorand make it self-sustainable, the government

approved first ever Textile Policy (2009-14)in August 2009 that envisaged boosting tex-tile exports to $25 billion in five years. TheCabinet while approving the Textile Policyalso approved the proposal that the textile in-dustry will be exempted from load-sheddingand would enjoy priority.

However, government failed to ensuregas and power to the industry and it failed tomeet its production and export targets as wasenvisaged in the policy, sources maintained.

‘Energy shortage caused Rs 200bannual loss to textile sector’

NEW YORK

AGENCIES

President Barack Obama and Democraticand Republican lawmakers met Friday asthey faced just days to reach a budget dealto avert massive tax increases and spend-ing cuts that could drag the U.S. econ-omy, the world’s biggest, into recession.

The two sides are attempting tosmooth over sharp differences on raisingtaxes on the wealthiestAmericans and cuttingspending on politicallysensitive socialwelfare pro-grams such asMedicare andMedicaid. Butinvestors wereskeptical thata deal could beaccomplished be-fore the deadline.

The MSCI all-worldshare index.MIWD00000PUS wasdown 0.5 percent, and thepan-european FTSeu-rofirst 300 .FTeU3ended down 0.6 percent.

In U.S. trading, theStandard & Poor’s 500Index .SPX was down15.67 points, or 1.11percent, at 1,402.43,marking a fifthstraight decline for thelongest losing streak

in three months.The Dow Jones industrial average

.DJI was down 158.20 points, or 1.21 per-cent, at 12,938.11, while the NasdaqComposite Index .IXIC was down 25.59points, or 0.86 percent, at 2,960.31.

“There’s a pretty good chance that wewon’t have something in hand by year-end,” said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. eq-uity strategist at UBS, in New York. “Itshould be pretty obvious that that is now

the majority case.”Golub, however, said in-

vestors were stillcounting on a deal

that would avoidmost of the taxhikes andspending cuts

next year even ifit does comeafter the dead-line.

A l l o w i n g$600 billion

of higher taxesand spending cuts

to start in Januarywould prevent U.S.

debt spilling beyond a$16.4 trillion agreedlimit. Analysts fearthe measures couldwipe as much as 4percent off thecountry’s growth

rate.energy com-

panies were

among the biggest decliners on WallStreet, with shares of exxon Mobil(XOM.N) down 2 percent at $85.10 andthe S&P energy index .GSPe leading sec-tor losses.DOLLAR RISES: The U.S. dollar edgedup to a two-week high against major cur-rencies as investors waited to see if U.S.politicians can strike a last-minutebudget deal. “Headline risk is likely to re-main a driver of FX markets in the nearterm,” said eric Theoret, FX strategist atScotia Capital in Toronto.

An agreement on the U.S. budgetwould be viewed as positive for riskiercurrencies such as the euro and Aus-tralian dollar, while a deadlock is deemedpositive for the safe-haven and highly liq-uid dollar. Against a basket of currenciesat 79.930, the dollar was last up 0.1 per-cent at 79.665 .DXY.

At the same time, expectations thatJapan will inject new stimulus into itseconomy pushed the yen to yet anothertwo-year low for a third straight day.

The dollar was steady against the yenat 86.06 yen, having earlier risen to86.63 yen, its strongest since August2010. In the U.S. bond market, bench-mark Treasury debt prices rose for athird consecutive session on safe-havenbuying as the faded hopes for a deal onthe fiscal cliff. Benchmark 10-year notestraded 12/32 higher in price, withyields falling to 1.69 percent, markingthe lowest in two weeks and downfrom 1.73 percent late Thursday.Benchmark notes posted theirbiggest daily dip in yield in over

seven weeks and were downabout 8 basis points on theweek.OIL EASES: U.S. Februarycrude slipped 7 cents, or0.08 percent, to settle at$90.80. Trade waschoppy, awaiting news onthe U.S. budget talks, butthe market was pressuredby data showing that fuelstockpiles rose sharply andcrude stocks fell less than ex-pected last week. Brent Febru-ary crude fell 18 cents, or 0.16percent, to settle at $110.62.

In other commodity markets,

U.S. gold futures forFebruary delivery set-tled down $7.80, or0.5 percent, at$1,655.90 an ouncein New York.

Traditionally asafe haven and in-flation hedge thatinvestors rush to in

times of trouble,gold has lately be-

haved like a risk asset -often rising and fallingwith the stock market

and sometimes follow-ing the dollar.

Global stocks drop, dollar up as ‘cliff’ deadline looms

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

THe price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has beenraised across the country and now it has reached Rs 225per Kg from 180. According to Media reports, the marketsources claimed that 11.8 KG LPG Cylinder price wasRs1699 and now it has reached at RS 1820.

It is pertinent to mention here that the domestic cylinder price wasRs 578.85 in 2006.

The market sources further claimed that the price of LPG hasreached RS 225 KG in Murree, Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit andtribal areas while it has been reached from 165 to 180 Kg in Islamabad,Rahimyar Khan, Faisalabad and Dera Ismail Khan.

LPG price soars to Rs 225per kg

Commodity prices end year mixed amidUS budget impasseLONDON: Commodity prices were mixed this week, heading towards the end of 2012, a year in which the values of raw materials suchas oil and gold were determined largely by global economic strains and recovery hopes. Oil prices rose in limited trading amid both thefestive season and a stalemate in talks to avert the “fiscal cliff” of US tax hikes and spending cuts. Traders are concerned by politicalbickering in Washington over a new budget due to take affect on January 1. In recent weeks, Democratic and Republican leaders haverejected offers from the other side and broke for the Christmas holiday blaming each other for failing to find a deal. On Friday, marketswere waiting for an 11th-hour meeting between US President Barack Obama and congressional leaders over a deal to avert a potentiallycatastrophic situation. Traders welcomed news of Obama’s meeting, which was to take place after the president cut short his Christmasvacation in Hawaii. “They are trying to at least come up with something before the year comes to an end, so Obama shortening his holi-day and coming back... I think that is a plus point,” IG trading group analyst Yang Weiming told. AGENCIES

World stocks declined, the dollar gained and US shares fell for a fifth day as the White Houseand US lawmakers closed in on the ‘fiscal cliff’ deadline with no deal in place

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Sunday, 30 December, 2012

Business

NEW YORK

AGENCIES

Apple has agreed to drop its patent claimsagainst Samsung's Galaxy S III Mini afterthe South Korean rival said it would notsell the gadget in the United States, acourt filing showed Friday.

The announcement is the latesttwist in a patent battle between the two

tech titans.Last month, Apple asked that a se-

ries of Samsung products -- includingthe Galaxy S III -- be added to thepatent infringement suit between themobile giants.

"Apple will agree to withdraw withoutprejudice its request to include the GalaxyS III Mini in this case given Samsung'srepresentation that it is not making,

using, selling, offering to sell or importingthat product into the United States," thecompany said in its latest federal court fil-ing in San Jose, California.

Samsung, the world's top mobile andsmartphone maker, was ordered by a USjury in August to pay Apple $1.05 billionin damages for illegally copying iPhoneand iPad features for its flagship Galaxy Ssmartphones.

Apple to drop patentclaims against

Samsung phone

KARACHI: Chairman Mehran group, Gul Mohammad Lotwas honoured with a gold medal and Best Businessmanof the Year by the president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari,at the 36th FPCCI Export Awards Ceremony at theGovernor House.

KARACHI: The Consul General of the SriLanka W Jnadasa,hosted a dinner at Consulate premises. Picture showsPSBF President Tarek M Khan, Founder Chairman MajydAziz, Barrister Abdul R Sattar, and Tasneem Bandukwala,with others guests.

NEW YORK

AGENCIES

President Barack Obama and top congres-sional leaders met at the White House towork on a solution for the draconian debt-reduction measures set to take effect be-ginning next week. Stocks, which havebeen influenced by little else than the floodof fiscal cliff headlines from Washingtonin recent days, extended losses going intothe close with the Dow Jones industrialaverage and the S&P 500 each losing 1percent, after reports that Obama wouldnot offer a new plan to Republicans. TheDow closed below 13,000 for the first timesince December 4.

"I was stunned Obama didn't haveanother plan, and that's absolutely whywe sold off," said Mike Shea, managingpartner at Direct Access Partners LLC inNew York. "He's going to force the Houseto come to him with something different.I think that's a surprise. The entire mar-ket is disappointed in a lack of leadershipin Washington."

In a sign of investor anxiety, theCBOe Volatility Index .VIX, known as theVIX, jumped 16.69 percent to 22.72, clos-ing at its highest level since June. WallStreet's favorite fear barometer has risenfor five straight weeks, surging more than40 percent over that time. The Dow Jonesindustrial average .DJI dropped 158.20points, or 1.21 percent, to 12,938.11 at theclose. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index.SPX lost 15.67 points, or 1.11 percent, to1,402.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index.IXIC fell 25.59 points, or 0.86 percent,to end at 2,960.31.

For the week, the Dow fell 1.9 per-cent. The S&P 500 also lost 1.9 percentfor the week, marking its worst weekly

performance since mid-November. TheNasdaq finished the week down 2 per-cent. In contrast, the VIX jumped 22 per-cent for the week.

Pessimism continued after the mar-ket closed, with stock futures indicatingeven steeper losses. S&P 500 futuresdropped 26.7 points, or 1.9 percent,eclipsing the decline seen in the regularsession. All 10 S&P 500 sectors fell dur-ing Friday's regular trading, with mostposting declines of 1 percent, but energyand material shares were among theweakest of the day, with both groupsclosely tied to the pace of growth.

An S&P energy sector index .GSPeslid 1.8 percent, with exxon Mobil(XOM.N) down 2 percent at $85.10, andChevron Corp (CVX.N) off 1.9 percent at$106.45. The S&P material sector index

.GSPM fell 1.3 percent, with U.S. SteelCorp (X.N) down 2.6 percent at $23.03.

Decliners outnumbered advancers bya ratio of slightly more than 2 to 1 on theNew York Stock exchange, while on theNasdaq, two stocks fell for every one thatrose. "We've been whipsawing around onlow volume and rumors that come out onthe cliff," said eric Green, senior portfoliomanager at Penn Capital Management inPhiladelphia, who helps oversee $7 bil-lion in assets.

With time running short, lawmakersmay opt to allow the higher taxes andacross-the-board federal spending cuts togo into effect and attempt to pass aretroactive fix soon after the new year.Standard & Poor's said an impasse on thecliff wouldn't affect the sovereign creditrating of the United States.

"We're not as concerned with January1 as the market seems to be," said RichardWeiss, senior money manager at Ameri-can Century Investments, in MountainView, California. "Things will be resolved,just maybe not on a good timetable, andany deal can easily be retroactive." Tradingvolume was light throughout the holiday-shortened week, with just 4.46 billionshares changing hands on the New YorkStock exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSeMKT on Friday, below the daily average sofar this year of about 6.48 billion shares.On Monday, the U.S. stock market closedearly for Christmas eve, and the marketwas shut on Tuesday for Christmas. Manysenior traders were absent this week forthe holidays.

Highlighting Wall Street's sensitivityto developments in Washington, stocks

tumbled more than 1 percent on Thursdayafter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidwarned that a deal was unlikely before thedeadline. But late in the day, stocks nearlybounced back when the House said itwould hold an unusual Sunday session towork on a fiscal solution.

The National Association of Realtorssaid contracts to buy previously ownedU.S. homes rose in November to theirhighest level in 2-1/2 years, while a reportfrom the Institute for Supply Manage-ment-Chicago showed business activity inthe U.S. Midwest expanded in December.

"economic reports have been very fa-vorable, and once Congress comes to a res-olution, the market should resume anupward trend, based on the data," saidWeiss, who helps oversee about $125 bil-lion in assets. "All else being equal, we seeany further decline as a buying opportu-nity." Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) rose 4.3percent to $14.97 after the top U.S. book-store chain said British publisher PearsonPlc (PSON.L)(PSO.N) had agreed to makea strategic investment in its Nook Mediasubsidiary. But Barnes & Noble also saidits Nook business will not meet its previousprojection for fiscal year 2013.

Shares of magicJack VocalTec Ltd(CALL.O) jumped 10.3 percent to $17.95after the company gave a strong fourth-quarter outlook and named Gerald Ventopresident and chief executive, effectiveJanuary 1. The U.S.-listed shares of Cana-dian drugmaker Aeterna Zentaris Inc(AeZ.TO)(AeZS.O) surged 13.8 percentto $2.47 after the company said it hadreached an agreement with the U.S. Foodand Drug Administration on a specialprotocol assessment by the FDA for aPhase 3 registration trial in endometrialcancer with AeZS-108 treatment.

Wall Street ends sour week with fifth straight decline Stocks fell for a fifth straight day, dropping 1% and marking the S&P 500's longest losing streakin three months as the federal govt edged closer to the ‘fiscal cliff’ with no solution in sight

NEW YORK

AGENCIES

OIL prices slipped slightly Friday as traders eyed an 11th-hour"fiscal cliff" meeting at the White House ahead of a New Year'seve deadline. New York's main contract, West TexasIntermediate light sweet crude for February delivery, edgedseven cents lower to settle at $90.80 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for February delivery dipped 18 cents a barrel in Londontrade down to $110.62. After opening in positive territory in New York trade,prices turned lower following a weekly US energy Department report that saidthe country's crude supplies fell by 600,000 barrels in the week ended December21 -- less than analysts had expected. But markets seemed largely focused on aWhite House gathering between President Barack Obama and senior lawmakers

aimed at preventing the United States from going over the so-calledfiscal cliff, a mix of steep increases and budget cuts due to kick in

Tuesday. experts warn that failure to reach a deal by the end ofthe year could take the US economy back into recession.

And that could deal a blow to energy demands for theworld's biggest consumer of crude. President

Barack Obama wants taxes on Americanfamilies earning more than $250,000 a

year to go up but to spare the middleclass. Republicans, however,

want to extend George W.Bush-era tax cuts due

to expire foreveryone.

Oil slipsslightly amid'fiscal cliff'uncertainty

Facebook stocks lower asInstagram loses users

NEW YORK: Facebook shares fell Friday after a report said its photo-sharing app Instagram had lost millions of users following the release ofplanned policy changes since dropped on an outcry from users. According toaudience tracker AppData.com, over the past week the number of dailyInstagram users fell by 3.5 million to an average of 12.4 million users per day.Facebook shares sank about 2.5 percent lower in early trade, beforerebounding to $25.71 in the early afternoon, off 1.2 percent. earlier thismonth, Instagram backed off planned policy changes that appeared to clearthe way for the mobile photo sharing service to sell pictures withoutcompensation, amid protests from users. Changes to the privacy policy andterms of service had included wording that appeared to allow people's picturesto be used by advertisers at Instagram or Facebook worldwide, royalty-free.Twitter and Instagram forums buzzed over the phrasing, as users debatedwhether to delete their accounts before the new rules kicked in. AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia passes record $221bbudget for 2013: state TVRIYADH: Saudi Arabia's council of ministers on Saturday agreed a recordbudget for 2013 with revenues expected to hit $221 billion (167 billioneuros), state television Al-ekhbariyah said. Revenues in the oil-rich Gulfstate are projected to reach 829 billion riyals ($221.06 billion), whileexpenditure is planned at 820 billion riyals ($218.7 billion), the newschannel reported. "The council of ministers has passed the largest budget inthe history of the kingdom," it added. AGENCIES

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