Category: Other
Sri Lankan tea output seen lower
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea production is expected to fall with a religious holiday stopping plucking this week and factories focusing on making better quality teas, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Demand also improved at the Colombo auctions after […]
US cuts rates; US, IMF open new liquidity windows
WASHINGTON, October 30, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve sliced its key interest rate another 0.5 percentage points to 1.0 percent Wednesday as signs emerged of thawing credit markets around the world. The Fed’s expected action came after China also chopped its benchmark one-year deposit rate by 27 basis points to 3.60 in a […]
‘s Westpac reports 12 percent net profit growth
SYDNEY, October 30, 2008 (AFP) – Australia’s Westpac Banking Group announced Thursday that its annual net profit rose 12 percent, driven by strong deposit and lending growth.Net profit for the year ended September 30 rose to 3.86 billion dollars (2.58 billion US) from 3.45 billion dollars the previous year, the bank said in a statement. […]
US Treasury releases 125 billion dollars to nine banks
WASHINGTON, October 29, 2008 (AFP) – The US Treasury said Wednesday it had finalized the infusion of 125 billion dollars into nine major commercial banks as part of a financial system rescue plan. Officials said Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo each received 25 billion dollars in capital. Bank of America got 15 billion […]
Powerful rally lifts Dow 10-pct
NEW YORK, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – A frenzied buying spree sent US shares soaring Tuesday with the second-largest point gain in history for blue chips amid hopes for a rate cut and easing of a global credit crunch. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 889.35 points (10.88 percent) to finish at 9,065.12. The gain […]
Cheap crude may hit non-oil Arab states as inflows fall
DUBAI, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – Cheaper oil prices may damage the economies of non-oil producing Arab countries because of a fall in remittances and other cash inflows from the Gulf states, analysts said. Remittances sent home by migrant workers contributed three billion dollars or 20 percent of gross domestic product in Jordan last year, […]
Melamine tainted egg scare spreads to Beijing
BEIJING, October 29, 2008 (AFP) – Supermarkets in Beijing stopped selling eggs from one of China’s major producers on Wednesday as fears about the toxic chemical melamine spread to the Chinese capital. The retailers acted after Hong Kong health authorities said they had detected melamine, which has killed four babies and sickened 53,000 in China, […]
Ex-political prisoner beats veteran Maldives leader: official
MALE, October 29, 2008 (AFP) – Ex-political prisoner Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed beat Asia’s longest serving leader, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in the Maldives’ first democratic presidential election, official results showed Wednesday. The elections are the climax of an effort to bring political freedoms to the Indian Ocean archipelago in the wake of pro-democracy protests and international […]
Thai crocs feel bite as financial woes dull taste for luxury goods
SAMUT PRAKAN, October 29, 2008 (AFP) – At the Elite Thai Leather factory in Bangkok, craftsman contort tough Thai crocodile hides into any style of luxury handbag a fashion designer wants. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Bright blue handbags made from the dyed rough […]
Indonesian ex-central bank governor gets five years for graft
JAKARTA, October 29, 2008 (AFP) – A former governor of Indonesia’s central bank was sentenced to five years in jail and a relative of President Susilo Bambang was named a suspect Wednesday in a snowballing corruption scandal. Burhanuddin Abdullah was convicted in the anti-corruption court of embezzling 10.3 million dollars in bank funds to bribe […]
Sri Lanka rubber producers urged to cut supply to prop up prices
Oct 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan authorities are advising rubber cultivators to reduce supply in an effort to prevent prices which have fallen off record highs, from slumping further. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Rubber Research Institute director Asoka Nugawala said a short-term […]
Sri Lanka tea prices hold after government purchases
Oct 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices stabilized and more lots were sold at Tuesday’s Colombo auctions after the state-run Tea Board began buying in a market in a rare intervention, officials and brokers said.To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Tea Board chairman […]