stock exchange

Lahore Stock Exchange

2009-11-18T07:24:00.001-08:00

The Lahore Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited came into existence in October 1970, under the Securities and Exchange Ordinance of 1969 by the Government of Pakistan in response to the needs of the provincial metropolis of the province of Punjab. It initially had 83 members and was housed in a rented building in the crowded Bank Square area of Lahore. The number of listed companies has increased to 519 since its inception. With 37 sectors of the economy and 519 listed companies with total capital of Rs. 555.67 billion having market capitalization of around Rs. 3.64 trillion . The LSE has 152 members of which 81 are corporate, and 54 are individual members. The LSE was the first stock exchange in Pakistan to use the internet and currently 50% of its transactions are via the internet.

Karachi Stock Exchange

2009-11-18T07:16:00.000-08:00

The Karachi Stock Exchange or KSE is a stock exchang located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Founded in 1947, it is Pakistan's largest and oldest stock exchange, with many Pakistani as well as overseas listings. Its current premises are situated on Stock Exchange Road, in the heart of Karachi's Business District.

How To Find The Best Web Host For Your Online Business

2009-11-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

If you want to go the free route to start with, you can. Just sign up with Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and set up a blog on the spot. You’ll get a built in community there that can send you a bit of traffic your way.

If you’re looking for more flexibility and the ability to brand your site, then you should consider going “independent”. Perhaps you’d like to start your own recipe blog, or would like to build your own t-shirt site. Maybe you’re interested in setting up a site to represent your professional self online, and may want to leverage this somehow. Or you could simply be looking for a company that can provide you with email hosting services. Either way, you’ll need to choose a web hosting provider that’s affordable, easy to work with and reliable.

Online Business Startup Costs Are Cheap

2009-11-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to write a little about online business, since it happens to be one fairly easy way to try to create an income stream apart from your day job. What’s great about an online business is that it doesn’t take much to get it started: it doesn’t require that much money. You can run a business for under $100 a month, and more often than not, it’s much cheaper than that!

In my case, I started out using all the free tools I could get (but of course!), but over time, I realized that “free” wasn’t going to sustain a business indefinitely, nor would it make it easier and less frustrating for me to handle any growing pains that may come. In some respects, there are still a lot of things you can get for free in this business, but with a small outlay, you can set up a site, no sweat. So how about we discuss what it is you need to get started on your online adventure?

Web Hosting and Managed Services

2009-11-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

On the bright side of the tech sector, the overall Web hosting and managed services market is expected to continue significant growth, despite the economic downturn and the burst of the dot com bubble. Outsourced management of Web site hosting is allowing IT operational expenses to be reduced by up to 60 percent, which in turn, has enabled internal staff to focus on applications. Drivers such as these have increased the prevailing demand for higher levels of Web site management, channeling considerable revenues into the fully-managed Web hosting segment.
This study analyzes the history, current environment, and prospects of the Web hosting market. The report features separate detailed forecasts for several Web hosting market segments, including an aggregate forecast. This report assesses a number of vendors by evaluating their facilities, products, services, and marketing strategies, and also includes a discussion of the carrier perspective. Our study identifies the critical issues that telecommunications and Web hosting service providers need to know to successfully compete in this cutthroat market environment.

Amazon's EC2 Takes On Web Hosting Market

2009-11-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

Amazon has made a significant and much bolder step into the web hosting arena, extending its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service by introducing Elastic IP Addresses and Availability Zones.

The Elastic IP Addresses allow Amazon Web Services users to set up static IP addresses, making it easy to host websites, web services and other online applications using Amazon EC2. Users can programmatically map the static IP addresses to any of their instances, making it easy to recover from instance failures.

By default, users are limited to a total of 5 Elastic IP Addresses, although additional IP addresses can be request from Amazon. To ensure customers use the Elastic IP Addresses associated with their account, a $0.01 per hour charge is applied when each IP is not mapped to an instance.
The Availability Zones feature makes it easy and relatively inexpensive to operate a highly available internet application. Availability Zones are designed to be protected from failures in other Availability Zones, so by spreading an application across several zones, it can be better protected against power failures or network downtime

Hosting reliability and uptime

2009-09-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim for at least 99.9% uptime (roughly equivalent to 45 minutes of downtime a month, or less), but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment, which may or may not be considered part of the official uptime promise.

Many providers tie uptime and accessibility into their own service level agreement (SLA). SLAs sometimes include refunds or reduced costs if performance goals are not met.

Web hosting service

2009-09-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.

China Mobile

2009-09-09T09:32:00.002-07:00

China Mobile Limited (Chinese: 中国移动通信, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōngguó Yídòng Tōngxìn) (SEHK: 0941, NYSE: CHL) provides mobile voice and multimedia services[2] through the nationwide mobile telecommunications network it operates in China, the largest of its kind in the world.It is a state-owned enterprise, but is listed on the NYSE and the Hong Kong stock exchange.China Mobile has the world’s largest mobile network and the world’s largest mobile subscriber base.

Bank of China

2009-09-09T09:32:00.001-07:00

Bank of China Limited (BOC) SSE: 601988 SEHK: 3988 (simplified Chinese: 中国银行; traditional Chinese: 中國銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Yínháng; often abbreviated as 中銀 or 中行) is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China. From its establishment until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the Government of the Republic of China along with the "Big Four" banks of the period: the Central Bank of China, Farmers Bank of China and Bank of Communications. Although it initially functioned as the Chinese central bank, in 1948 the People's Bank of China replaced it in that role. Subsequently, BOC became a purely commercial bank

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

2009-09-09T09:31:00.001-07:00

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) (simplified Chinese: 中国工商银行; traditional Chinese: 中國工商銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng, more commonly just 工行 Gōngháng) is China's largest bank and the largest bank in the world.It is one of China's "Big Four" state-owned commercial banks (the other three being the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank). It is the largest bank in the world in terms of market value, the world's largest bank by deposits, and the world's most profitable bank.

It was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984. As of 2009, it had assets of RMB trillion (US$1.6 trillion), with over 18,000 outlets including 106 overseas branches and agents globally.In July 2007, with a market capitalization of US$254 billion, it became the world's most valuable bank after a surge in its share price, overtaking Citigroup.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

2009-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (traditional Chinese: 香港交易所, also 港交所 (HKEX), SEHK: 0388) is the stock exchange of Hong Kong. The exchange has predominantly been the main exchange for Hong Kong where shares of listed companies are traded. It is Asia's third largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalisation, behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. As of 31 December 2007, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had 1,241 listed companies with a combined market capitalisation of $2.7 trillion. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is the holding company for the exchange.

Economy of the People's Republic of China

2009-09-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

The economy of the People's Republic of China is a rapidly developing and influential market economy in the world. China is the third largest economy in the world after the US and Japan with a nominal GDP of US$4.4 trillion (2008) when measured in exchange-rate terms. It is the second largest in the world after that of the United States with a GDP of $7.8 trillion (2008) when measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.[5] China has been the fastest-growing major nation for the past 30 years with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%.[6] China's per capita income has likewise grown at an average annual rate of more than 8% over the last three decades drastically reducing poverty, but this rapid growth has been accompanied by rising income inequalities.[7] The country's per capita income is classified in the lower middle category by world standards, at about $3,180 (nominal, 104th of 178 countries/economies), and $5,943 (PPP, 97th of 178 countries/economies) in 2008, according to the IMF.

1997 Asian Financial Crisis

2009-09-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Asian Financial Crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of Asia beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion.

The crisis started in Thailand with the financial collapse of the Thai baht caused by the decision of the Thai government to float the baht, cutting its peg to the USD, after exhaustive efforts to support it in the face of a severe financial overextension that was in part real estate driven. At the time, Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt that made the country effectively bankrupt even before the collapse of its currency. As the crisis spread, most of Southeast Asia and Japan saw slumping currencies, devalued stock markets and other asset prices, and a precipitous rise in private debt.

Though there has been general agreement on the existence of a crisis and its consequences, what is less clear is the causes of the crisis, as well as its scope and resolution. Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand were the countries most affected by the crisis. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines were also hurt by the slump. The People's Republic of China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam were less affected, although all suffered from a loss of demand and confidence throughout the region.

Foreign debt-to-GDP ratios rose from 100% to 167% in the four large ASEAN economies in 1993-96, then shot up beyond 180% during the worst of the crisis. In South Korea, the ratios rose from 13-21% and then as high as 40%, while the other Northern NICs (Newly Industrialized Countries) fared much better. Only in Thailand and South Korea did debt service-to-exports ratios rise.

Although most of the governments of Asia had seemingly sound fiscal policies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to initiate a $40 billion program to stabilize the currencies of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, economies particularly hard hit by the crisis. The efforts to stem a global economic crisis did little to stabilize the domestic situation in Indonesia, however. After 30 years in power, President Suharto was forced to step down in May 1998 in the wake of widespread rioting that followed sharp price increases caused by a drastic devaluation of the rupiah. The effects of the crisis lingered through 1998. In the Philippines growth dropped to virtually zero in 1998. Only Singapore and Taiwan proved relatively insulated from the shock, but both suffered serious hits in passing, the former more so due to its size and geographical location between Malaysia and Indonesia. By 1999, however, analysts saw signs that the economies of Asia were beginning to recover.

aisian markets

2009-09-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Asian markets end broadly higher Tuesday

Asian markets ended broadly higher Tuesday as positive investor sentiment spurred on bargain hunting in most markets, dealers said.

TOKYO	Nikkei-225	17,292.91	-40.40
SHANGHAI	Composite	1,329.80	+10.33
HONG KONG	Hang Seng	16,100.09	+36.34
SEOUL	Composite	1,385.64	+5.89
TAIPEI	Weighted	6,665.60	+4.84
SYDNEY	All Ordinaries	5,116.30	-16.80
KUALA LUMPUR	KLSE	931.17	+2.94
SINGAPORE	STI	2,532.59	-16.09
JAKARTA	Composite	1,326.448	-2.865
BANGKOK	SET	745.33	+6.66
MANILA	Composite	2,194.20	+4.43

Japan
Tokyo stocks closed 0.23% lower Tuesday, as investors favoured profit taking following the market's recent gains, brokers said. The Nikkei-225 index shed 40.40 points to close at 17,292.91.

China
Chinese stocks edged up 0.78% Tuesday on continued buying support for bluechips, brokers said. The Shanghai Composite Index increased 10.33 points to close at 1,329.80.

Hong Kong
Hong Kong stocks advanced 0.23% Tuesday, with investors continuing to buy selected bluechips, brokers said. The Hang Seng Index added 36.34 points to finish at 16,100.09.

South Korea
South Korean stocks closed 0.42% higher Tuesday, as foreign investors scooped up tech shares, brokers said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.89 points to 1,385.64, extending its winning streak to a ninth session.

Taiwan
Share prices on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended flat Tuesday, as profit-taking in selected blue-chips capped early gains, dealers said. The weighted index, the market's key barometer, rose 4.84 points to close at 6,665.6.

Australia
The Australian stock market closed 0.35% weaker by the end of the day as an early strong lead built up by the major miners was diminished by profit-taking. At the 1615 AEST close the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 18 points to 5162.5 points after reaching an intraday high of 5217.5 points. The all ordinaries had lost 16.8 points to 5116.3 points by the finish.

Malaysia
The Malaysian stock market closed 0.32% stronger Tuesday, pushed up by bargain-hunting in mining and consumer product stocks, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 2.94 points to 931.17.

Singapore
Singapore stocks ended 0.63% weaker Tuesday as investors locked in profits following recent gains, dealers said. The Straits Times Index dropped 16.09 points to 2,532.59.

Indonesia
The Jakarta stock market closed 0.22% lower Tuesday as investors took profits in Telkom shares, dealers said. The composite price index lost 2.865 points to 1,326.448.

Thailand
Thai stock prices ended 0.90% stronger Tuesday amid speculation the Prime Minister might heed pressure to resign, dealers said. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index added 6.66 points at 745.33, while the bluechip SET 50 index climbed 5.93 points to 518.57.

Philippines
Philippine shares gained 0.20% Tuesday, thanks to investor bargain-hunting in blue chip Philippine Long Distance Telephone, brokers said. The composite index rose 4.43 points to end at 2,194.20.

Foreign exchange market

2009-08-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

he foreign exchange market (currency, forex, or FX) trades currencies. It lets banks and other institutions easily buy and sell currencies. The purpose of the foreign exchange market is to help international trade and investment. A foreign exchange market helps businesses convert one currency to another. For example, it permits a U.S. business to import European goods and pay Euros, even though the business's income is in U.S. dollar

stack exchanges of world

2009-08-25T01:55:00.000-07:00

2009-08-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

Stock market downturn of 2002

2009-08-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

The stock market downturn of 2002 (some say "stock market crash" or "the Internet bubble bursting") is the sharp drop in stock prices during 2002 in stock exchanges across the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. After recovering from lows reached following the September 11, 2001 attacks, indices slid steadily starting in March 2002, with dramatic declines in July and September leading to lows last reached in 1997 and 1998. The dollar declined steadily against the euro, reaching a 1-to-1 valuation not seen since the euro's introduction.

Chinese correction

2009-08-24T06:17:00.002-07:00

The Chinese Correction was the global stock market plunge of February 27, 2007 which wiped out hundreds of billions of market value. After rumors that governmental Chinese economic authorities were going to raise interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation and that they planned to clamp down on speculative trading with borrowed money, the SSE Composite Index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange tumbled 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.

The plunge in Asian markets sent ripples through the global market as the world reacted to the 9% meltdown in the Chinese stock market. The Chinese Correction triggered drops and major unease in nearly all financial markets around the world.

After the Chinese market drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States dropped 416 points, or 3.29% from 12,632 to 12,216 amid fears for growth prospects, then the biggest one-day slide since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The S&P 500 saw a comparable 3.45% slide. Sell orders were made so fast that a second analysis computer had to be used, causing an instantaneous 200 point drop at one point in the Dow Industrials.

Every Generation Has Its Crash

2009-08-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

From financing the War of 1812 to today's internet and biotechnology companies, Wall Street has played a very significant role in both the American economy and its welfare. In the 19th and early 20th century, the American economy would go through repetitive periods of boom and bust, and on numerous occasions, specific names on Wall Street would be actively involved. Figures such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Daniel Drew, Jay Gould, J.P. and Jack Morgan in their heydays controlled vast economic fortunes, and with the touch of a hand, could bring Wall Street to its knees.

The gold corner of 1869 was such an example. With the aid of Jim Fisk and Daniel Drew, Jay Gould decided to corner the gold market of the United States. There was only one problem. The U.S. Treasury had approximately $100 million worth of gold secured at Fort Knox, and any attempt to corner the gold market would require the Treasury to stay away. Gould's vast political connections (one of whom was the President, Ulysses Grant) ensured that. By the time they had accumulated all the gold they had intended to (Gould alone bought $7 million), the premium on gold was 160%. This forced the short-sellers to cover, which stabilized the price of gold at about that price. Gould sold all his holdings at the top of the market and made a profit of $10 million. The Treasury did not intervene until several days later, and the fallout was great. Several firms on Wall Street failed, and the stock market collapsed as a result -- which in turn caused numerous brokerage firms to fail.

The panic of 1907 brought out a single savior -- not the Treasury, nor the Federal Reserve (which did not exist then), but J.P. Morgan. The stock market had a very high valuation going into 1907. From March to October, the stock market fell continuously, and in late October, the impending failure of the Knickerbocker Trust Company caused a run on its already depleted funds. The company was left to fail, but Morgan, along with other well-known bankers, provided the funds necessary (>$25 million) to prop up the other major trust institutions. At the same time, the Treasury was propping up the stock market with its own funds. When they ran out, they had to ask Morgan for help. Morgan provided a further $25 million. Without his aid, the NYSE would have to shut down.

Mathematical theory and stock market crashes

2009-08-24T04:53:00.002-07:00

The mathematical characterisation of stock market movements has been a subject of intense interest. The conventional assumption has been that stock markets behave according to a random Gaussian or "normal" distribution.[23][24] Among others, mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot suggested as early as 1963 that the statistics prove this assumption incorrect.Mandelbrot observed that large movements in prices (i.e. crashes) are much more common than would be predicted in a normal distribution. Mandelbrot and others suggest that the nature of market moves is generally much better explained using non-linear analysis and concepts of chaos theory. This has been expressed in non-mathematical terms by George Soros in his discussions of what he calls reflexivity of markets and their non-linear movement.

Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests that there is evidence the frequency of stock market crashes follows an inverse cubic power law.This and other studies such as Prof. Didier Sornette's work suggest that stock market crashes are a sign of self-organized criticality in financial markets. In 1963, Mandelbrot proposed that instead of following a strict random walk, stock price variations executed a Lévy flight. A Lévy flight is a random walk that is occasionally disrupted by large movements. In 1995, Rosario Mantegna and Gene Stanley analyzed a million records of the S&P 500 market index, calculating the returns over a five year period.Their conclusion was that stock market returns are more volatile than a Gaussian distribution but less volatile than a Lévy flight.

Researchers continue to study this theory, particularly using computer simulation of crowd behaviour, and the applicability of models to reproduce crash-like phenomena.

France

2009-08-24T04:53:00.001-07:00

In France, daily price limits are implemented in cash and derivative markets. Securities traded on the markets are divided into three categories according to the number and volume of daily transactions and price limits vary depending on the category to which the security belongs. For instance, for the more liquid category, when the price movement of a security exceeds 10% from the quoted price at the close of the previous market day, quotation is suspended for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, transactions are resumed. If the price then goes up or down by more than 5%, transactions are again suspended for 15 minutes. The 5% threshold may apply once more before transactions are halted for the rest of the day. When transactions are suspended in the cash market on a given security, due to undue price movement, transactions on the option based on the underlying security are also suspended. Further, when more than 35% of the capitalization of the CAC40 Index is unable to be quoted, the calculation of the CAC40 Index is suspended and the index is replaced by a trend indicator. When less than 25% of the capitalization of the CAC40 Index is able to be quoted, quotations on the derivative markets are suspended for half an hour or one hour when additional margin deposits are requested

United States

2009-08-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

There are three thresholds each of which represents different level of decline in terms of points in Dow Jones industrial average.

In the event where threshold 1 is breached, the first halt is triggered. If that point is reached before 2 p.m., the market would shut down for an hour. If threshold 1 is breached between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the halt will last 30 minutes. No trading stops will take place if threshold 1 is breached after 2:30 p.m.

If threshold 2 is breached before 1 p.m., the market would close for two hours. If such a decline took place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., there would be a one-hour pause. The market would close for the day if stocks sank to that level after 2 p.m.

In the event where threshold 3 is breached, the market would close for the day, regardless of the time.

The thresholds are computed at the beginning of each quarter to establish a specific point value for the quarter.

For the first quarter of 2009, threshold 1 is 850 points, threshold 2 is 1700 points, and threshold 3 is 2600 points.

The rules would halt trading on the major securities and futures exchanges in a coordinated cross-market halt if the circuit breaker is enacted.

The Crash of 2008

2009-08-24T04:51:00.000-07:00

On September 16, failures of large financial institutions in the United States, due primarily to exposure of securities of packaged subprime loans and credit default swaps issued to insure these loans and their issuers, rapidly devolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of bank failures in Europe and sharp reductions in the value of equities (stock) and commodities worldwide. The failure of banks in Iceland resulted in a devaluation of the Icelandic Krona and threatened the country with bankruptcy. Iceland was able to secure an emergency loan from the IMF in November.^[6] In the United States, 15 banks failed in 2008, while several others were rescued through government intervention or acquisitions by other banks.^[7] On October 11, 2008, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the world financial system was teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown".^[8]

The economic crisis caused countries to temporarily close their markets.

On October 8, the Indonesian stock market halted trading, after a 10% drop in one day.

The Times of London reported that the meltdown was being called the Crash of 2008 and older traders were comparing it with Black Monday in 1987. The fall this week of 21 percent was not as bad as the 28.3 percent fall 21 years ago. But some traders were saying it was worse. “At least then it was a short, sharp, shock on one day. This has been relentless all week.”^[9]. Business Week also referred to the crisis as a "stock market crash" or the "Panic of 2008."[