Crude prices fall

SINGAPORE: Crude prices were lower in Asian trade on Monday ahead of an OPEC meeting later this week where the oil cartel is expected to announce another round of production cuts. At 0620 GMT, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery was lower at $61.70 a barrel in the US on Friday. — AFP

India, Japan air accord

TOKYO: Japan and India are in final talks to revise their bilateral aviation pact for the first time in 13 years, with the number of flights between the two countries set to almost quadruple. Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, are expected to reach a basic agreement on the revision during Singh’s visit to Tokyo. — AP

France, ECB rates row

PARIS: French prime minister called for ‘clarification’ of the role of the European Central Bank (ECB), amid fierce debate in France on the high level of the euro. While Villepin acknowledged the ECB had the front-line role in fighting inflation, he signalled that he favoured increased influence for eurozone governments in its decisions, notably concerning the euro’s foreign exchange rate. — AFP

BoI to aquire Swadesi

JAKARTA: Bank of India (BoI) will buy a majority stake in Indonesia’s Bank Swadesi early next year, central bank deputy governor Siti Fadjrijah said. “The sales and purchase agreement with Swadesi is likely to be done in the first quarter of 2007,” Fadjrijah said. She said BoI was targetting a stake of more than 50 per cent. — AFP

UK trade deficit falls

LONDON: Britain’s trade in goods deficit narrowed to 6.3 billion pounds in October, the lowest level for six months, the Office for National Statistics said on Monday. September’s deficit was revised up slightly to 6.7 billion pounds from an original estimate of 6.6 billion, it added. — AFP

Drought hits output

SYDNEY: Australia’s wool harvest is set to dwindle to its lowest in 20 years, as the worst drought in a century weighs further on the beleaguered rural community. Record low rainfall has led the nation’s wool producer body, Australian Wool Innovation, to slash its ‘shorn wool production’ outlook for 2006-07 by nine per cent on last year’s 461,000 tonnes. — AFP

German growth to dip

BERLIN: Growth of the German economy is set to halve in the fourth quarter of this year from third-quarter performance mainly because of a slowdown in the construction sector. German GDP is set to expand by just 0.3 per cent on a quarterly basis. — AFP

SBL’s rights shares

KATHMANDU: The fifth annual general meeting of Siddhartha Bank Ltd (SBL) has decided to distribute 20 per cent rights shares to its shareholders, states a press release issued here by the bank. The bank decided to distribute rights shares to increase its paid-up capital. In the fiscal year 2005-06, the bank registered an operating profit of over Rs 110 million while it posted over Rs 60 million net profit, states the release. — HNS

NEGOSIDA’s scheme

KATHMANDU: Nepal Gold and Silver Association (NEGOSIDA) has announced a NEGOSIDA Bumper Prize 2063. The objective of the prize is to support the NEGOSIDA Trading Centre, which has been in operation since the past four years, according to a press release issued by Nepal Gold and Silver Association. Under the scheme, a customer, who procures gold or silver worth over Rs 2,000, gets a coupon. After the implementation of the scheme, prize will be announced in every two months and 10 customers will get 2.5 grams of gold each, states the release. The scheme is applicable in Kathmandu valley, including Kavrepalanchowk district, in the initial phase. — HNS

OECD jobless rate

PARIS: The unemployment rate in the 30 countries covered by the OECD fell to 5.9 per cent in October from six per cent in September. The rate fell by 0.6 percentage points from the figure at the same time last year. In the eurozone, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 per cent. — AFP

Z’babwe’s inflation up

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s inflation spiral rose to 1,098.8 per cent last month, up by 28.6 percentage points from October. “The year-on-year of inflation in November was 1,098.8 per cent gaining 28.6 percentage points on the October rate of 1,070.2 per cent,” Kennedy Shonhiwa, acting director for statistics announced at a news conference in the capital. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate peaked at 1,204.6 per cent in August. — AFP