December 10, 2005	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 7, 1426

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Pakistan, China sign agreement on EHP: Tariff reduction ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Pakistan and China on Friday inked an agreement to enforce Early Harvest Programme (EHP) for reducing tariff on around 3,000 industrial and agriculture products from Jan 1, 2006....		Insurance claims worth Rs600-650m being filed: Quake-hit areas KARACHI, Dec 9: Insurance claims of Rs600-650 million are being filed in respect of loss of lives and property in earthquake-hit districts of Azad Kashmir and NWFP but many of these are without proper documents and involve a lot of investigations....
New plant to roll out 500 buses in 2006 KARACHI, Dec 9: A new company has started assembling Korean buses at a local plant and it plans to roll out 500 buses during 2006. Afzal Motors Private Ltd entered into...		SBP stuck with T-bills glut KARACHI, Dec 9: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), desperate to off-load glut of treasury bills, exerted pressure on the money market by leaving the surplus liquidity in the banking system,...
NTC imposes dumping duties on 7 states ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The National Tariff Commission (NTC) has imposed six definitive anti-dumping duties on import from seven countries during the period February 26, 2002 to November 21, 2005....		Indian team visits Port Qasim KARACHI, Dec 9: A five-member Indian delegation on Friday visited the Port Qasim and said that the port had great potential for expanding cooperation between the two countries in the maritime sector....
Stocks finish weekend session with modest rise KARACHI, Dec 9: Shares on the Karachi stock market on Friday fell from the early highs on late profit-selling in some of the leading base shares after the index missed its next chart point of 9,500 just by seven points....		Steady trend on cotton market KARACHI, Dec 9: The cotton market on Friday maintained a steady trend amid an actively traded session as spinners were not inclined to take a technical breather in an apparent bid to contain prices within the current levels....
Merrill Lynch to hike stake in Indian venture NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Global investment bank Merrill Lynch plans to pay $500 million to hike its stake in its Indian joint venture to 90 per cent to expand operations in India’s fast-growing financial services sector, a statement said....		India-Asean free trade deal by next year NEW DELHI, Dec 9: In the run-up to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kuala Lumpur from Sunday, India and the ten-member Asean grouping have resolved issues to start the free trade agreement by January 2006....
Oil prices ease before OPEC moot LONDON, Dec 9: Oil prices shot above 61 dollars per barrel on Friday for the first time for more than a month before easing on profit-taking before next week’s OPEC meeting, dealers said....		Pakistan to join Cairns Group on 13th ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Pakistan will formally join the Cairns Group — a coalition of agriculture exporter countries — on December 13, in Hong Kong. An official told Dawn on Friday that...
Dollar lower LONDON, Dec 9: The dollar slipped against the euro late Friday amid a growing belief that US rate setters will tone down the rhetoric at next week’s interest rate decision, signalling that the rate hiking cycle may be nearing an end....		Industrial output PARIS, Dec 9: French industrial production fell sharply in October compared with September, casting doubt on the strength of a widely forecast economic recovery and revealing difficulties for the French auto sector, analysts said on Friday....
Karachi Port operations KARACHI, Dec 9: Five vessels carrying steel, containers and crude oil are due to arrive at the outer anchorage on Saturday, according to KPT sources. Berthing activity at the wharves was...		Temasek to launch asset management firm KARACHI, Dec 9: Alexandra Fund Management, a subsidiary of Singapore’s powerful state investment agency Temasek Holdings, will launch an asset management company in Pakistan with Pakistani partners....
Japan, Asean in bid to break trade deadlock KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9: Japan and Asean decided on Friday to launch a series of workshops in a bid to break an impasse in negotiations over a free trade pact, officials said....		Asian stocks close higher HONG KONG, Dec 9: Asian stocks closed mostly higher with modest gains Friday at the end of a patchy week, with India and Japan grabbing the lion’s share of the limelight, dealers said....
Gold fever rages, price tops $525 an ounce LONDON, Dec 9: Gold fever took prices to $525.50 an ounce for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century on Friday as investors, particularly in Asia, rushed to...		Palm oil recovers KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9: Malaysian crude palm oil futures recovered in late trade on Friday to end firmer on expectations of strong export figures next week, dealers said....