Surge in US payrolls AFP [WASHINGTON] US businesses hired 126,000 extra people in October nearly twice as many as had been expected and the jobless rate fell to 6 per cent, the government said yesterday. The Labor Department said firms also had taken on 125,000 workers in the previous month,

Aussie boost for CapitaLand [SINGAPORE] Capita Land's ventures Down Under seem to be paying off. While its third quarter earnings came in at $67 million, down 52.7 per cent, earnings from Australia and New Zealand helped buffer a weak Singapore market. Capita Land is expected to write down its office

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MOTORING Lexus LS43O: amarqueof silent comfort. RAFFLES CONVERSATION I. f?l Chumpol Nalamlieng. president of Siam Cement and SingTel's new chairman

Frequent flyers don't call the shots —airlines do saturdaysoapbox Try redeeming your frequent flyer miles, and you'll realise that they are hemmed in with conditions with mike loh WHEN you sign up as a frequent flyer with an airline, you accumulate points when you fly, and you can exchange these

S'pore back in the race to host leading AMD fab Chance comes alter the company revives plan for 65nm plant By Raju Chellam [SINGAPORE] Singapore may yet get a second chance to host the world's first cut-ting-edge semiconductor manufacturing facility following a decision by US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices

Zeti sees M'sia keeping ringgit peg under Abdullah Continuity will be hallmark of the new PM's policy By Vikram Khanna [SINGAPORE] Barring "a major structural change", Malaysia won't review its ringgit peg and continuity will be the hallmark of economic policy under new Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the country's central

Koizumi may win, but only to face bigger crises news analysis The enormity of the economic problems has forced the opposition to adopt a strategy to lose the polls, says ANTHONY ROWLEY from Tokyo ANTHONY ROWLEY JAPAN will go to the polls tomorrow for a lower house parliamentary election that

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THE RESCUE ARTIST Chumpol Nalamlieng steered Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate out of crippling debt and led its rehabilitation after the devastating financial crisis of the late *****. The president of Siam Cement, and SingTel's new chairman, shares his experiences with LOH HUI YIN in Bangkok. LOH HUI YIN THE huge

Towards the pan-Asian telco TELCOS? It's a new subject for me, declares the two-month old chairman of Singapore Telecom. "I'm wearing a new hat, still not very comfortable," says Chumpol Nalamlieng, who became chairman of Singapore's largest listed company in August. And in doing so, he has the distinction of

The Raffles Conversation is brought to you through a 1 /fl special arrangement with Raffles International Hotels I OI I |OQ and Resorts. The Traveller's Palm in the Raffles JL VjCULL XvnJ International logo is an apt symbol. Not only has INTF R NATION A 1 water stored at the

NOL chief's top priority must be cutting debt corporate analysis The shipping line is on course for record earnings this year, say analysts Bloomberg David Lim's first year at the helm of Neptune Orient Lines Ltd, Singapore's largest shipping line, will probably show a record profit. Investors including Caleb Woo

CapitaLand Q3 profit falls 52.7% to $67m Nine-month performance shows Aussie, NZ segment is dear leader By Andrea Tan SINGAPORE Inc's ventures Down Under seems to be bearing fruit. A day after Singapore Telecommunications said its Australian unit Optus turned in a strong performance, CapitaLand similarly reported a robust Australian

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MARKETS STI 1f769.09(+5.96)l f 769.09(+5.96) □ST INDEX FUTURES 1,773.00 (+12.00) SIMSCI FUTURES 215.60 (+0.60) Friday Change KLSE(X)MP 806.78 ±36 NIKKEI 225 __.I0.628.98 -76.68 HANG SENG _I2J1517 *6-508 SET INDEX 671 *346 JAKARTA COMP ***** -6.07 MANILA (X)MP .1.***** -1058 TAIPEI WPI 6.***** *4:14:1 SEOl'LOOMP 804.05 *1401 SHENZHEN B ±76 70

SingTel's overseas unite phone home with more profits By Tang Weng Fai NOTHING much new can be expected by way of an encore. The recent performance of Sing Tel as demonstrated by its second-quarter results has highighted its critical and growing dependence on overseas associates. Analysts have been and still

STI fails to hold on to gains market review wong wei kong SINGAPORE shares again failed to hold on to early gains yesterday and ended the session only slightly up but that broke a two-day losing streak. The Straits Times Index closed 5.96 points higher at 1,769.09. It hit a

FibreChem Tech may re-apply for SGX listing Non-disclosure of firm's HK listing application said to be the problem By Serena Ng FIBRECHEM Technologies is considering re-submitting an application to list here, after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) withdrew its eligibility to list (ETL). Sources yesterday told BT that the excimnge had

Oei Hong Leong ups interest in Jurong Engineering to 23.4% By Wong Wei Kong 081 Hong Leong is nibbling again. Fresh from Increasing his stake in United Industrial Corp (UIC), the tycoon has bought more shares in Jurong Engineering Ltd (JEL). A purchase of 268,000 shares on Thursday through his

More foreign IPOs set to hit S'pore market S'pore ranked fourth fastest growing IPO market for Jan-Oct period as China companies turn to city for listing Reuters FOR Nick Yang, founder of a mobile data service provider in China, the invitation to speak at a Singapore investment forum last month

MMI HOLDINGS LIMITED (Incorporated in Singapore wilt) limited liability) NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Fourteenth Annual General Meeting of MMI Holdings United ('the Company*) will be Held at I* Mendien Hotel, 100 Orchard Road $(*****0), on 24 November 2003 at 3 p.m. for the

brokers'take Compiled by QUAK HIANG WHAI Singapore Telecom Nov 7 rlmiiy $L 79 SINGTEL'S earnings recovery story was reinforced again as Optus and associates continued to drive earnings while the domestic market remained anaemic as expected. Net profit of $473 million was inline with our estimate of $477 million, which

Whole life policy not meant for investment MAILBAG Benny Ong Chief Executive Officer Life Planning Associates Pte Ltd I REFER to the article by Genevieve Cua entitled "Estate Planning: Do you need a whole life plan?" (BT, Oct 25). A term plan, whether it is for five, 10, or 30

DBS offers new fixed plus floating rate mortgage By Andrea Tan BARELY days after UOB launched its First Zero mortgage overdraft and bridging loan, DBS is offering a fixed plus floating rate housing loan scheme. Under DBS' Fixed Floating plan from its Mortgage 1-2-3 scheme, customers can have both fixed

Beware pitfalls of much-touted cashback plans By Genevieve Cua YOU'RE shopping in the weekend, and suddenly a young man (or woman) stops you and asks: "How would you like to have a savings plan with a guaranteed cashback of 5 per cent annually?" Sounds attractive? If you're at a bank,

Who stands to gain in a takeover situation? show me the money Shareholders of the acquiring company do not always lose out teh hooi ling DO you gain when the companies you have shares in announce acquisitions of other companies? Numerous studies have shown that there is usually a transfer

CPF-included unit trusts return 6.5% By Genevieve Cua STRONG gains by Asian stock markets in the third quarter boosted the performance of CPF-included equity unit trusts. The average return of CPFIS-included unit trusts was 6.49 per cent, compared with 12.24 per cent in the second quarter. Equity funds delivered the

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S'pore refineries enjoy better capacity usage EXCLUSIVE But they say improvement not sustainable, in contrast to situation in China, India and Malaysia By Ronnic Lim AFTER a dismal start to the year because of Sars, oil refiners in Singapore are finally seeing a pick-up in demand but it may not

UK seeks to woo tech-savvy SMEs Partnership scheme to connect S'pore firms with UK companies By Daniel Buenas THE British government aims to attract techno-logically-sawy Singapore SMss to invest in the UK via a partnering scheme that will help connect them with UK companies they can work with. The Global

S'pore to host collateralised debt obligation meeting SINGAPORE will be hosting Asia's first CDO (collateralised debt obligation) conference on Thursday next week, and some of the world's leading financial institutions will be participating. CDO, a mix between fixed income and structured finance, is essentially about repackaging high-yield bonds with low-credit

Half of ez-link cards sold are used for only 5 days By Samuel Ee AN average of almost 50,000 ez-link cards are bought each month and used only for five days after their purchase. This is almost half the number of stored value fare-cards sold each month. The puzzling statistics

NTU, Shanghai varsity to offer exec MBA NANYANG Technological University (NTU) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University yesterday launched a joint executive MBA programme the first in a series of collaborations. Aimed at senior executives and industry leaders from Singapore. China and the region, the part-time EMBA Programme in Shanghai is

SHC CAPITAL LIMITED (Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an Extraordinary General Meeting of SHC Capital Ltd (the •Company") will be held at 745 Toa Payoh Lorong 5, Singapore *****5 on 26 November 2003 at 3.00 p.m. for the purpose of considering and, if thought

I MARKET RALLY I more I remisiers I exit I industry I

Magnum in talks to run Indon numbers forecast ops Report says company trying to tap large population in Indonesia as part off regional expansion strategy [KUALA LUMPUR] Magnum Corp, Malaysia's biggest number betting company, said it is in talks to expand its business into Indonesia, as part of efforts to

Texmaco in danger of being liquidated Indon govt to meet next week to discuss textile film's future From Shoeb Kagda in Jakarta AFTER failing repeatedly to meet its debt obligations, Indonesia's giant Texmaco group faces the prospect of being liquidated by its creditors, which include the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency

M'sian PM to hasten police probes into corporate graft Bloomberg, AP [KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he will speed up police investigations into companies including insolvent Perwaja Steel Sdn, in his resolve to curb corruption. "I have asked the attorney general to give me reports on

BAT exits Myanmar under British pressure Tobacco giant will sell its 60% stake in plant co-owned with junta AFP [LONDON] Cigarette giant British American Tobacco (BAT) is pulling out of Myanmar after heavy pressure from the British government to withdraw due to human rights concerns, it said on Thursday. The

Foreign banks sue Indian govt over loan guarantees [MUMBAI] Foreign banks have launched unprecedented legal action against the government of India to retrieve guaranteed loans to the Indian power entity owned by collapsed energy company Enron, according to the Financial Times. Lawyers familiar with the situation said about US$6OO million

Merrill banker found dead in HK 39-year-old wife of the American held AP [HONG KONG] Police found the body of an American investment banker wrapped up in a storage unit and arrested his wife on suspicion of murder, after determining yesterday that he died of head injuries. Business Times' Hong

IHRBBIIH Call toll-free 1800 299 8822 In the matter of the Companies Act, (Cap. 50) And In the matter of WAH TIONG CO (PTE) LTD (In Members' Voluntary Liquidation) NOTICE OF FINAL MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN PURSUANT TO SECTION 308( 1) of the Companies Act, (Cap. 50) that the

NOTICES mwm NH CERAMICS LTD (Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore) NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT the Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at 1 A 3 Tuas Avenue 8 Jurong Industrial Estate Singapore *****7 on 24 November 2003 at 10.00 am.

A hint that era of low rates may be ending But Greenspan makes it clear he wants to maintain the rates for several months NYT [WASHINGTON] US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan offered a first hint on Thursday that the era of rock-bottom interest rates may be slowly drawing to

Payrolls surge in Oct, jobless rate falls to 6% LATEST US INDICATORS Labour market catching up with recovery: analysts Reuters, Bloomberg, AP [WASHINGTON] The US economy added more than twice the number of jobs expected in October and the jobless rate fell to 6 per cent, the government said yesterday

Top central bankers to meet amid talk of rate hike Bloomberg. Reuters [FRANKFURT] European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet will meet fellow central bankers this weekend amid speculation that the UK's decision to raise credit costs will start a round of interest-rate increases as economies rebound. US Federal Reserve governor

Motorola CEO to get US$29m retirement package Bloomberg [NEW YORK] Motorola Inc is giving chief executive officer Christopher Galvin a departure package worth at least US$29 million, including stock awards that vest when he retires. Mr Galvin, who is quitting because of disagreements with the board, has at least 800,000

F1 boss mulls over Aussie budget airline AFP [SYDNEY] The boss of Formula One team Minardi, Paul Stoddart, is considering establishing a cut-price Australian airline to compete with Qantas and Richard Branson's Virgin Blue. "We have got the aircraft available and we have got the ability to make it happen

KPMG to cut ties to law firms in 60 countries Accounting giant blames US Sarbanes-Oxley Act for its decision [LONDON] KPMG will stop providing legal services, and the big accounting firm blamed US corporate governance rules for its far-reach-ing decision, the Financial Times said. The firm told the FT that

Cracking down on pop-up spam AFP [WASHINGTON] US regulators on Thursday announced an effort to clamp down on a new type of "pop-up" advertising scheme that exploits a loophole in Microsoft Windows designed for network administrator messages. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it had obtained a court order barring

Pension fund rejects NYSE revamp plan Reed's proposal not representative off investors' interests, says Calpers NYT [NEW YORK] The United States' largest pension fund has urged federal regulators to reject the two-board structure for the New York Stock Exchange proposed by its interim chairman John Reed, calling it insufficiently independent

Closely-held US firms exempt from new rules Bloomberg [NEW YORK] About 5,000 companies must have boards rim by a majority of independent directors under new US stock exchange rules approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, Kirk Kerkorian's Metro-Goldwyn-May-er InC, Conrad Black's Hollinger International

a marque of silent comfort Lexus takes its hallmark LS model to the next level with a faster and quieter ride, says SAMUEL EE SAMUEL EE THREE generations and one mid-model restyle later, the luxury car that Toyota unveiled in 1989 to challenge the Europeans and Americans continues to uphold

The relentless pursuit of safety By Samuel Ee LEXUS engineers say they take the marque's slogan "The relentless pursuit of perfection" very seriously when it comes to technological advancement. A recent visit to Toyota's Higashi-Fuji Technical Centre provided quite an insight into this commitment. The centre near Japan's Mount Fuji

Uncertain path to semis for top teams frankly speaking While previous predictions should still hold true, last weekend's matches suggest that there may be surprises along the way justin sampson YOU can thank Wales, Ireland, and their respective performances against Australia and the All Blacks last weekend for the change

Tiger puts up another test of putting skill By Ven Sreenivasan IF you didn't get to put your putting prowess to the test when the Tiger Skins Prowler roamed Singapore's streets several weeks ago, here's a chance to make up for it. For its final fringe event before the Tiger

those little extras Supplements may be easily available but beware the one-pill-fits-all approach, as individual needs can be quite specific, writes IRFAN QURESHI IRFAN QURESHI THANKS to technology and efficient agriculture, our food supply has increased tremendously. The majority of people in the first world have ample food to eat,

Tour de Kirkby Cycling is more than a weekend wheelie for Lend Lease's David Kirkby, as CHEAH UI-HOON finds out CHEAH UI-HOON THE highlight of the year for David Kirkby, CEO (South-east Asia) for Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, was participating non-competitively in the Tour de France in July a

a cut above With demand from the luxury segment picking up strongly and changes in table culture, the venerable Christofle rises to the challenge with new lines and fresh products. CORINNE KERK reports CORINNE KERK g§ VERYONE knows it for its luxj.-';<%■■■ urious and exclusive tableware. But behind Christofle's gleaming

Get carried away Attention shoppers, you are now in bag heaven, with a slew of new designer brands hitting town, writes CORINNE KERK CORINNE KERK IT'S raining designer handbags in Singapore, and at the rate it's happening, you'll have absolutely no excuse to be caught carrying a sorry-looking sack anymore.

entertainmentguide Going out or staying in this weekend? We round up some recommendations books Not up to par The first thing that strikes you about the cover of The Altman Code is Robert Ludlum's name, which is several sizes bigger than the book title. This is another book in the

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going au naturale As demand for organic meat grows slowly but steadily, supply is gradually catching up. JAIME EE reports JAIME EE HE organic movement in Singapore may be small, but there is nonetheless a steady demand for the growing range of organic, or at least additive-free products that are

When frozen is better than fresh ANOTHER new product on the market imported by Indoguna is Ocean Gems frozen prawns. While people tend to shun frozen prawns as being inferior to that found in the wet market, the reality is that frozen may actually be better than fresh, says Indoguna's

The glass ceiling GEOFFREY EU discusses matters of glass with stemware sommelier Georg Riedel GEOFFREY EU WHEN Georg Riedel talks about wine and the proper vessels to drink it out of people listen. That's because he represents the 10th generation of the world's pre-emi-nent family of glassmakers, an unbroken dynasty

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD across Hebridean island (4) 6 One in this position rarely 1 Ordered security in invest- finds a welcome there ment (8) (2,3,3) 9 Key to fire engine? (8) 7 Steady business (4) 1 I')''' 5 U 3 Wrth 3 mother 031 Bln line for a pay-rise (8) 11