Lahore Grain Market Rates 30/07/2012

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Grain and other commodity rates in rupees on Akbari Mandi on Monday (July 30, 2012).

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                          Per 100 kg

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Sugar                      5200-5250

Gur                        5800-6000

Shakar                     6500-7000

Ghee (16 kg)               2470-2710

Almond (Kaghzi)          28000-40000

Almond (Simple)          10500-15000

Sogi                     20000-25000

Dry Date                  8000-15000

Chilli (Sabat)           25000-40000

Chilli (Pissi)           16000-26000

Turmeric                 10000-12000

Darchini (large)               18000

Mong (Sabat)               9000-9500

Dal Mong (Chilka)         8000-10000

Dal Mong (Washed)          8500-9500

Dal Mash (Sabat)          9000-11000

Dal Mash (Chilka)        10000-11600

Dal Mash (Washed)        10500-13000

Dal Masoor (Local)         8500-9000

Dal Masoor (import)        6500-7500

Masoor (salam)             6500-8000

Gram White                9000-10500

Gram Black                8800-10000

Dal Chana (Thin)           9700-9800

Dal Chana (Thick)        10000-10200

White Kidney Beans Lobia   9000-9500

Red Kidney Beans Lobia   10000-12500

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RICE                    (per 100 kg)

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Basmati Super (Old)      10000-11000

Basmati Super (new)       9000-10000

Rice Basmati (386)         6000-6300

Basmati broken             4500-5100

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TEA                       (per 1 kg)

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Tea (Black)                  350-440

Tea (Green)                  600-900

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US, Germany hopeful on euro reforms after island talks

MUNKMARSCH: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and US counterpart Timothy Geithner said on Monday they were confident the countries of the euro zone would implement reforms needed to overcome their sovereign debt crisis.

In a statement issued after talks on a blustery German island in the North Sea where Schaeuble is holidaying, the two men said their countries would cooperate closely to stabilise the global and European economies.

Geithner�s trip to the remote island, against a backdrop of stormy weather and heavy seas, underlined US concerns about a euro zone crisis that now threatens the wider global economy and US President Barack Obama�s re-election hopes in November. �(The two men) emphasised the need for ongoing international cooperation and coordination to achieve sustainable public finances, reduce global macroeconomic imbalances, and restore growth,� they said in their statement.

�Both expressed confidence in euro area member states� efforts to reform and move towards greater integration,� said the statement, issued shortly after their talks in an elegant hotel on the island. The two men gave no news conference.

They cited Ireland�s success in placing longer term bonds and fiscal and structural reforms in Italy and Spain as examples of such efforts.

Their statement also referred to comments by several European leaders in recent days - including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi - to do whatever is necessary to save the euro.

Financial markets have rallied in recent days on expectations that the ECB will back up Draghi�s rhetoric with bold action, possibly the resumption of its controversial bond-buying programme.

Washington has long urged bolder steps to tackle the euro crisis, but Germany, Europe�s largest economy, remains deeply uneasy about the ECB buying up debt on the secondary market or adopting other unconventional measures that could undermine its core role of pursuing price stability. Earlier, a German finance ministry spokeswoman played down suggestions that the meeting on the sparsely populated island about six hours� drive from Berlin amounted to crisis talks.

�It�s not an unusual thing for the minister to meet a visitor on his holiday. It�s a normal procedure. Because the minister is on holiday, the meeting is happening there.�

Schaeuble had been hoping to forget the euro zone crisis for a few weeks on Sylt and said in one newspaper interview that he planned to �read a few books� and �clear my head�.

He said another aim for his holiday was �not to be put on the spot too much by journalists� for a few weeks.

But the spokeswoman played down suggestions that the meeting amounted to crisis talks.

Schaeuble spends the better part of a month each summer on Sylt, a narrow island 40 km long that is Germany�s largest North Sea island. Long a summertime playground for the country�s rich and famous, the resort is known for its sandy beaches, fine fish restaurants and relaxing atmosphere.�Reuters

Monday's midday trade: Wall Street edges down; Fed, ECB eyed

NEW YORK: US stocks edged down on Monday following their best two-day run this year as investors awaited announcements from central banks later in the week.

The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will both meet amid investor expectations of action to stimulate economic growth, but it was unclear what, if any, measures might be taken.

Hopes the central banks would move to revive sluggish growth pushed the Dow above 13,000 for the first time since early May last week, and the S&P 500 had its biggest two-day rally since December.

But the major indexes erased gains in midday trade on Monday. Utilities and telecom services stocks were still up, while the biggest decliners were the consumer discretionary and healthcare sectors.

�People have had smoke signals from Europe for the last few days, so they�ve been forming opinions on whether there�s going to be some concrete activity, and the market�s had time to build that in,� said Joseph Benanti, managing director of Rosenblatt Securities in New York.

�It rallied pretty well over the last few days, but now it�s time for the smokescreen from those signals to fade. We are looking at earnings as the driver for the day. There were lowered expectations, so earnings have come in okay, but a lot of the outlook is downbeat for Q4,� Benanti added.

S&P 500 companies set to report quarterly earnings on Monday include Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Eastman Chemical Co.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Friday, of the 280 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for Q2 2012, 67 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations. The average over the past four quarters is 68 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.11 points, or 0.15 percent, at 13,056.55. The Standard & Poor�s 500 Index was down 3.11 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,382.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 13.65 points, or 0.46 percent, at 2,944.44.

There were still some bright spots, however, as blue chips like Wal-Mart Stores and AT&T hit new 52-week highs.

Wal-Mart was up 0.6 percent at $74.97 after hitting $75.24 earlier, and AT&T was up 1.3 percent at $37.61 after hitting $37.69.

Coca-Cola Co shares were 0.7 percent higher at $80.58.

In M&A news, Shaw Group surged 60.8 percent to $44.91 after the engineering company agreed to be acquired by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co for about $3 billion in cash and stock.

Also, diversified US manufacturer Roper Industries Inc said it will buy privately held Sunquest Information Systems Inc, a provider of diagnostic and laboratory software services, for about $1.4 billion in cash, cheering investors who drove the stock up as much as 10 percent.

But Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc plunged 43.6 percent to $6.09 and Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd tumbled 11.8 percent to $46.90 after US health regulators declined to approve wider use of their drug for opioid-induced constipation and asked for more data.

Apple Inc climbed 1.5 percent to $594.15. Jury selection is due to begin on Monday in the United States in a high stakes patent battle between the iPad maker and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the culmination of over a year of pretrial jousting with billions of dollars in the balance.�Reuters

UK stocks jump on fresh economic stimulus hopes

LONDON: Strength in risk-sensitive energy, miners and banking stocks propelled Britain�s top share index back up to touch the 5,700 level on Monday, fuelled by hopes central banks could launch fresh measures this week to stem the global economic slowdown.

Recent comments from European policymakers vowing to take all steps to tackle the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, as borrowing costs for under-pressure Spain and Italy have soared, have heightened speculation of European Central Bank action.

The ECB has been hinting, hinting, hinting but now it's the time to deliver, said Henk Potts, market strategist at Barclays Wealth.

If they don't do something concrete at Thursday's meeting the markets are going to see some hefty falls. There are no in-between measures this time, if the central bankers fail to deliver there is nothing else to underpin the market, Potts added.

The biggest support for the blue chips came from the energy and mining sectors, which rose on hopes that expected central back action would lift the gloom surrounding the global economy and boost demand for commodities.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 66.42 points, or 1.2 percent at 5,693.63 points, just holding below the 5,700 level breached intraday for the first time in 10 days, though volume was modest at 69 percent of the 90-day daily average.

�Overall, volumes were rather low today as the summer season kicks off and Olympic Games are in full swing. We can expect continued volatility heading into August, together with some position squaring,� said Ishaq Siddiqi Market Strategist at ETX Capital in a note.

Banking shares were higher on hopes for central bank action, as lenders are big holders of euro zone debt, and as the sector�s first-half results season was continued by global giant HSBC, shares in which gained 2.3 percent in strong volume at 120 percent of its 90-day daily average.

Europe�s biggest bank reported a 3 percent dip in underlying profit and said it had made a provision of $700 million to cover �certain law enforcement and regulatory matters� after a US Senate report this month criticised HSBC for letting clients shift funds from dangerous and secretive countries.

Peer Barclays - which posted well-received first-half results on Friday as it said it faced fresh lawsuits over its role in a Libor rate-fixing scandal - gained 2.1 percent, helped by a broker update.

Societe Generale raised its rating for Barclays to buy from hold and increased its target price to 190 pence from 170 pence, citing a firmer commitment by the lender to control costs in its investment banking business.

As investor focus switched to stocks generally perceived as more risky, defensive plays were the main blue chip fallers.

Food retailers were among the worst off, with Tesco and J. Sainsbury both down 0.8 percent.

Publishing group Pearson was the biggest individual blue chip faller, losing 3.3 percent, weighed down by a hangover from an earnings disappointment on Friday.

On the second line, electrical retailer Dixons was a good performer, adding 4.2 percent with traders citing the impact of an Olympics boost for the sale of televisions mentioned by department stores group John Lewis in its weekly sales figures last Friday.

Other high street retailers were under pressure, however, after a survey by the Confederation of British Industry on Monday showed British retail sales rose in July more slowly than stores had expected, dented by unusually rainy weather.

The CBI distributive trades survey�s July sales balance fell to +11 from an 18-month high of +42 in June. Analysts had forecast a fall to +15.

Blue chip clothing retailer Next shed 0.4 percent, with the firm due to issue a trading update on Wednesday.�Reuters

Euro falters as invetors become wary

LONDON: The euro slipped on Monday as investors became wary that hoped-for action from the European Central Bank this week may fall short of expectations, prompting traders to take profits on gains made late last week.

Some in the market have speculated the ECB may reactivate its bond-buying programme to help cut Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, but traders were aware that Germany has repeated its opposition to this and they saw scope for disappointment.

The central bank meets on Thursday. Talk of policy action intensified after president Mario Draghi said last week the bank would do whatever it took to save the euro, a message echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

But German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler warned the ECB about any large-scale government bond purchases and a German government spokesman on Monday reiterated Berlin�s opposition to any form of mutualisation of euro zone debt.

The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.2259, retreating from a three-week high of $1.2390 hit on Friday, but still holding above a two-year low of $1.2042 hit last Tuesday on trading platform EBS.

�Draghi has to put some action behind his words last week ... The bias is towards disappointment and that�s what�s creeping into markets now,� said Niels Christensen, currency strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen.

Markets will keep an eye on any comments from US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is due to meet German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Draghi on Monday.

The US Treasury said Geithner and the officials would discuss the US, European and global economies.

Markets were bracing for a busy week, with central bank decisions due in the United States and the UK as well as the euro zone, in addition to key US jobs data on Friday.

Before the ECB meeting, analysts said euro losses were likely to be limited.

�Clearly, if nothing is announced that would be a massive disappointment ... But there is an expectation that we�re going to see something meaningful on Thursday,� said Callum Henderson, global head of FX research for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

But he said the euro�s failure on Friday to close above a key technical level near $1.2325 was weighing on the currency.

The euro fell 0.8 percent to 95.85 yen, though it remained above last week�s low of 94.12 yen, its lowest level against the Japanese currency in more than 11-1/2 years.

It struggled against the Swedish crown, which hit a 12-year high after data showed the Swedish economy grew much more than expected in the second quarter. The euro fell 1.3 percent to 8.3400 crowns.

The Australian dollar also rallied, reaching a record high of around A$1.1680 against the euro and a four-month high of US$1.0500 versus the US dollar.

Many market players said the Australian currency�s gains could be vulnerable however, given its close correlation with the global growth outlook.

�People are selling euro/Aussie and that provides Aussie/dollar with an indirect degree of support. But exposure there is pretty big if we get any negative economic developments in Asia and if Draghi and (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke do not deliver,� said Daragh Maher, FX strategist at HSBC.

The dollar was steady at 82.786 against a basket of major currencies, above a three-week low of 82.343 hit on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar eased 0.3 percent to 78.41 yen.�Reuters

US Afghan aid could flop on counterinsurgency goals: watchdog

WASHINGTON: Costly US efforts to build major infrastructure projects in Afghanistan are running far behind schedule, and may fall short of counter-insurgency goals central to the US military campaign there, a government watchdog warned on Monday.

Almost $400 million in power grid, roads and other construction projects from fiscal 2011 may not achieve the desired COIN effects, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said.

The COIN acronym refers to the military strategy, credited with helping turn around the war in Iraq, that is now a mainstay of the Pentagon's bid to weaken the Afghan Taliban. With the strategy, the counter-insurgency campaign depends on winning the local populace's backing, turning it away from insurgents.

In some instances, these projects may result in adverse COIN effects because they create an expectations gap among the affected population or lack citizen support, the inspector general said of activities under the Afghanistan Infrastructure Project, jointly backed by the Defence and State departments and carried out by the US Agency for International Development.

SIGAR found that procurement and funding delays - from many sources including poor security, personnel changes, faulty cost estimates and slow transfer of funds between government agencies - had put five of seven projects from fiscal 2011 six to fifteen months behind schedule.

And most projects may not achieve desired COIN benefits for several years, SIGAR said.

The report comes as the Obama administration pushes ahead with its gradual exit from Afghanistan, where the Taliban remains a dire threat after more than a decade of US and NATO efforts to defeat it.

Equally daunting, as NATO nations plan the removal of most troops by the end of 2014, is the challenge of making sure that billions of dollars in aid since 2001 makes a permanent, positive mark.

While donor nations are pledging to give $16 billion in development aid through 2015, annual Western assistance is already shrinking. US assistance peaked in 2010.

The Afghanistan Infrastructure Project, or AIP, is a US effort to provide better roads, power grids and water supplies for Afghans, in part to erode support for the Taliban and its allies, who have deep roots in much of the Afghan south and east.

The report also found that the projects could remain uncompleted or fall into disrepair because officials had not properly arranged for future maintenance and funding, or because they planned to rely on Afghan government agencies of �questionable capacity.

The success and viability of many ... projects hinge, in part, on unidentified, unfunded infrastructure projects and the successful, timely completion of other projects that the US government has been unable to complete for more than 7 years, SIGAR said.

Widespread public corruption remains a major concern in Afghanistan even as President Hamid Karzai promises outside donors he will crack down on fraud.

In its response, the Defense Department said that SIGAR's study revealed a clear lack of understanding of US counterinsurgency doctrine and failed to note that Afghans might rally around a building project long before it was finished.

Clearly, if dashed hopes can produce adverse effects, then that very hope produces positive COIN effects in advance of project implementation, it said

Fire kills 32 on Indian express train

HYDERABAD: Thirty-two people were killed Monday when an overnight fire ripped through a coach of an express train as it carried sleeping passengers to the southern Indian city of Chennai, officials said.

The accident, on a long-distance service from New Delhi, occurred in the early hours of the morning near the town of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh state with an electrical short-circuit seen as the most likely cause.

Images showed dozens of rescuers, survivors and crowds of onlookers milling around as the blackened and twisted bodies of victims, some burnt beyond recognition, were lifted out and laid in rows alongside the railway line. Family members of the victims wailed and screamed, while other dazed survivors sat around quietly with their belongings.

I woke up when people were rushing into our compartment, I was in S-10 which was attached to the S-11 coach that caught fire, passenger Shantanu, who gave only one name, told the NDTV news channel. There was smoke all around. We tried to open the emergency window, people jumped out of it.

The central government press office said that 32 people had lost their lives and 25 had been injured, with 500,000 rupees (9,000 dollars) offered to the families of the deceased.

Nellore chief district official B. Sreedhar said preliminary investigations suggested a short circuit near a toilet had triggered the blaze, while Railway Minister Mukul Roy said an investigation was underway. �Nothing can be excluded and nothing can be said without an investigation,� Roy told reporters shortly before rescue officials wrapped up their nearly 12-hour search for bodies.

The train was travelling at 110 kilometres per hour (70 miles per hour) when it passed through Nellore station, where staff noticed the fire and informed the railway authorities.

The burning carriage was quickly detached from the rest of the train which prevented the fire from spreading.

India�s accident-prone rail network is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country despite fierce competition from private airlines.

While new shiny airport infrastructure is springing up, the Indian railways � a much-romanticised legacy of British colonial rule � often appear stuck in a time-warp.

There were two fatal accidents this May alone, including a collision that killed 25 people near the southern city of Bangalore. Four passengers also died after a train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent his condolences over the deaths and has asked the national railways ministry to coordinate the relief effort, his office said.

In March, the then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi unveiled a draft budget for 2012-13 that included a major safety upgrade to be financed by across-the-board fare hikes