Currency News

The first IACA Excellence in Currency Awards werepresented on May 8, 2007 at the Currency Conference in
Bangkok by Richard Haycock, chairman of IACA (the
International Association of Currency Affairs).

The awards, which are sponsored by Currency News, have
been introduced to promote and recognize excellence
in currency production processing, management and
distribution and are open to any organization or individual
products and systems of the currency industry, as well
as issuing authorities, commercial banks and enforcement
agencies.______________________________________________________________________________
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Winner: Tom Ferguson, former Director of the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing
BEST NEW BANKNOTE
Winner: National Bank of Kazakhstan for the 10,000 Tenge
Runners up: Central Bank of Sweden for the 1,000 Kronor Bank of Mexico for the 50 Peso
BEST NEW COIN
Winner: Royal Canadian Mint for the 25 cent
Runners up: Reserve Bank of New Zealand for its Silver Coin project
Royal Mint (UK) for the Brunel £2 coin
BEST NEW CURRENCY FEATURE
Winner: Crane & Co for Motion
Runners up: Securency for G-Switch
Louisenthal for varifeye
BEST NEW CURRENCY PROCESS OR SYSTEM
Winner: KBA GIORI for its ONE suite of digital pre-press products
Runners-up: OeBS and Jura for Direct Laser Engraving
Dollor Sales Pursching and Todays Rates Giesecke & Devrient for OBIS 3
BEST PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAM
Winner: US Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the Color of Money campaign
Runners up: Reserve Bank of New Zealand for the Silver Coin project AND Eureka Metro for World Polymer Banknotes
BEST CURRENCY WEBSITE
Winner: Bank of England
Runners up: Central Bank of Russia
The powerful new information tool for those specifying, designing, producing or handling currency

DataVault is a new on-line information source comprising a database of the all the world’s banknotes, the 2nd edition of the Directory of Currency Suppliers, archive copies of Currency News and a regular news update on new note issues. Secure, up to date, comprehensive and exclusive, it is included within annual subscriptions to Currency News to provide a wealth of additional and invaluable information.

Today EURO Currency Rate

Rate Cuts This Year
Bias for This Meeting: No Change
The Bank of England is expected to leave rates steady on Thursday at 5.00 percent – the lowest since December 2006 – for the fourth consecutive month. Indeed, all of the 60 economists polled by Bloomberg News anticipate such a decision. The rate announcement will come at 7:00 EDT but since the Monetary Policy Committee is anticipated to leave rates unchanged, they are unlikely to issue a monetary policy statement which should leave the market’s reaction to the news somewhat muted.
What are the fundamental factors that the MPC will be taking into account? Inflation pressures in the UK have built up significantly on the back of rocketing commodity prices, as CPI jumped to an annualized pace of 3.8 percent in June. Furthermore, the latest BRC Shop Price numbers for July suggest that consumer price growth accelerated even more. Rising costs are weighing heavily on consumer sentiment, especially as jobless claims jump and home prices continue to freefall. This has translated into lackluster retail sales, which plunged 3.9 percent in June alone, and a contraction in service sector business activity for the third consecutive month. Likewise, the July PMI reading for the manufacturing sector also reflected contraction for the third month in a row, while output has fallen negative in five of the past seven months. The persistent gains in measures of consumer prices should keep the Bank of England’s MPC concerned about inflation risks, but perpetual doves like David Blanchflower are sure to focus more on potential for a UK recession.
How will the Markets Respond to the News? Currently, overnight index swaps are pricing in almost 50bps worth of rate cuts within the next 12 months, which is part of the reason why the British pound has taken such a heavy hit versus the US dollar in recent weeks. However, once traders see that the Bank of England has chosen to, in fact, leave the Bank Rate unchanged at this meeting, the markets may reduce those rate cut expectations. Thus, there is potential for GBP/USD to rise on Thursday. On the other hand, if the Bank of England unexpectedly decreases the Bank Rate to 4.75 percent, or surprisingly publishes a Monetary Policy Statement that focuses on dour credit conditions and downside risks to growth, speculation of additional rate cuts will surely mount and weigh heavily on the British pound. Nevertheless, the odds of this happening are very slim, and as a result, we hold a bullish bias for the British pound on Thursday.

World Forex News

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Islamabad Pakistan Stock Exchange

SECP objects SBP proposal
ISLAMABAD (August 07, 2008): The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has strongly opposed the State Bank of Pakistan´s proposal to obtain oversight of 23 Non-Bank Financial Companies (NBFCs) and business groups managing both financial and commercial concerns.
´Government did not consult stakeholders´
ISLAMABAD (August 07, 2008): The federal government has not taken any input of stakeholders, including Investment Bank Association of Pakistan, on the most sensitive issue of bringing non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) into the regulatory framework of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
THE RUPEE: dollar rises further
KARACHI (August 07, 2008): Persisting demand for dollars did not allow the rupee to hold ground against dollar on the currency market on Wednesday, dealers said. In the interbank market, the rupee fell sharply versus the greenback, losing 25 paisa for buying and selling at 72.50 and 72.55 in process of trading, they said.
Stocks lower on political woes
KARACHI (August 07, 2008): Karachi share market witnessed heavy selling pressure on Wednesday and the KSE-100 index declined by 3.62 percent or 363.65 points to close at 9,678.82 points level, owing mainly to the uncertainty on the political front over the move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf.
LSE index sheds 128.73 points
LAHORE (August 07, 2008): Equities on Wednesday failed to maintain upward move on the Lahore Stock Exchange and registered declines across the board amid selling pressure on account possible confrontation between the President Pervez Musharraf and the coalition government.
Stock witness widespread losses on ISE
ISLAMABAD (August 07, 2008): Equities witnessed broad based erosion at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) on Wednesday where major players and retail investors offloaded their positions to avoid heavy losses amid decrease in index. ISE-10 Index showed a decrease of 81.20 points from 2,310.97 to 2,229.77 points.
BRIndex30 loses 451.18 points
KARACHI (August 07, 2008): On Wednesday, the BRIndex30 opened in the negative zone, at 10,380.19, and remained there for whole of the trading time, closing at 9,929.01 with a net negative change of -451.18 points and percentage change of -4.35. It saw intra-day high of 10,380.19 and low of 9,723.27.
SECP and KSE agree to expedite demutualisation process
KARACHI (August 07, 2008): Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Karachi Stock Exchange have agreed to expedite the demutualisation process in a way to get the KSE corporatised and demutualised by December 31, 2008. This was decided in a meeting on the demutualisation of the Karachi Stock Exchange on Wednesday at SECP´s Karachi Office convened by SECP Chairman Razi-ur-Rehman Khan.
ISE delisted three companies in 2007
ISLAMABAD (August 07, 2008): Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) has delisted three companies - AKD Index Traker Fund, Cresent Standard Investment Bank and Dewan Hattar Cement - during 2007, whereas 13 new companies were listed on the newest bourse during this period. According to the ISE data updated on Wednesday, only three companies were delisted during the period under review.

The National Stock Exchange Indian stock Exchange

The National Stock Exchange is India's largest financial market. Established in 1992, the NSE has developed into a sophisticated, electronic market, which ranks third in the world for transacted volume. The NSE conducts transactions in the wholesale debt, equity and derivative markets.
Based in Mumbai, India, the National Stock Exchange is a leader in market technology. The exchange's supports more than 3,000 VSAT terminals, making the NSE the largest private wide-area network in the country. The National Stock Exchange has been a pioneer for Indian financial markets, being the first electronic limit order book to trade derivatives and ETFs.
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American Stock Exchange - AMEXForeign Exchange Dealers Association Of India - FEDAIIndia ETFNegotiated Dealing System - NDSNew York Stock Exchange - NYSEPhiladelphia Stock Exchange - PHLXReserve Bank Of India - RBIStandard And Poor's CNX NiftyToronto Stock Exchange - TSXVery Small Aperture Terminal - VSATVolatility Index is a measure of market’s expectation of volatility over the near term. Volatility is often described as the “rate and magnitude of changes in prices” and in finance often referred to as risk. Volatility Index is a measure, of the amount by which an underlying Index is expected to fluctuate, in the near term, (calculated as annualised volatility, denoted in percentage e.g. 20%) based on the order book of the underlying index options.India VIX is a volatility index based on the Nifty 50 Index Option prices. From the best bid-ask prices of Nifty 50 Options contracts, a volatility figure (%) is calculated which indicates the expected market volatility over the next 30 calendar days.Salient Features:
Nifty 50 as underlying index, widely tracked and traded by the world.
Lot size of 20, to provide easy access to retail investors.
Better access for small investors.
-->Computation methodology of India VIXHistorical data of India VIX

International Stock Exchange

Market of Markets - Structured Products Market
The DIFX launched the DIFX TraX, its structured products platform, on August the 28th, 2007. Following the successful launch of DIFX TraX, the platform is growing to include more Shariah Compliant structured products and more conventional products.
With 23 diverse products currently listed, DIFX TraX has the ambition to become a ‘supermarket’ that offers retail and wholesale investors a wide range of conventional and Islamic structured products. DIFX TraX is the region’s only platform that provides regional and international investors access to high level financial engineering. The currently listed products are issued by three international investment banks – Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
DIFX TraX currently lists capital protected notes and index trackers (certificates). The products are based on specially created indices relating to the Dubai Financial Market, the Abu Dhabi Stock Market and other GCC stock markets. Other DIFX TraX products are based on US, European and East Asian share indices. Others are based on commodities such as oil, soy, corn, wheat, sugar and cotton.
The structured products listed on TraX go through an extensive review process and are listed only after relevant approvals and no objections are received from the DIFX Listing Authority and the DIFX’s regulator, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Structured products have been described as providing investors with a dimmer switch, offering different shades of risk from high to low. Indeed, the TraX listed products are unique opportunities for regional investors – they provide new tools for portfolio diversification. With a diverse set of products that can be used to gain exposure to a diverse set of underlyings, DIFX TraX is set to become the region’s gateway to a whole new asset class.
Click here for more on Structured Products market
Click here for TraX: Product Guide (English)Click here for TraX: Product Guide (Arabic)

Australin Share Stock Exchange

The new service for Managed Funds, ETFs and Structured Products is aimed at domestic and international product issuers that provide products for both retail and institutional investors. These issuers have not traditionally been provided with a dedicated operating framework within the exchange-traded environment. More information.Russell/ASX Long-Term Investing Report
Australian shares have edged out listed property and outperformed residential property as the investment providing the best 'real' returns for local investors over the past two decades, according to the 2007 Russell/ASX Long-Term Investing Report. View the media release (PDF 49KB) and download the full report (PDF 1.65MB). -->ASX awarded "Exchange of the Year" in structured products
Structured Products magazine awarded ASX "Exchange of the Year" for its "consistent innovation, market responsiveness, and for the
breadth of initiatives it has brought to the listed structured products business"1. More information.
1 Structured Products December 2007. -->
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Do market cycles matter?
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