Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Lahore Stock Exchange


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

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

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

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?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Web Hosting and Managed Services

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

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

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hosting reliability and uptime

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

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.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

China Mobile

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Foreign exchange market

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

Monday, August 24, 2009

Stock market downturn of 2002

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

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.