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Business & Economy

US stocks fall as market decline extends for third week

New York (US), Sep 19 (AP/PTI) Wall Street capped another turbulent week of trading Friday with a broad slide in stocks that left the S&P 500 with its third-straight weekly loss.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1per cent, led once again by a sell-off in technology companies, with Apple, Amazon and Alphabet weighing particularly on the market.

Technology stocks and other companies that powered the market's strong comeback this year have suddenly lost momentum this month amid worries that they have become too expensive.

India: Leather exporters undergo whirl of pandemic

Kanpur: Why this year is proving to be so painful to the leather exporters? Not only the exports have been decreased but also there were no remarkable orders from foreign buyers.

According to the report of the Leather Export Council, the export has been gone down to 48 per cent. This is a big fall in terms of the business. Was it due to the Corona pandemic?

Dwelling upon this unstable situation, the Council's regional chairman Javed Iqbal said that there was running despondency among the exporters, adding that the exports from April to August have been reduced to half.

Saudi oil exports down 62%

18 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s oil exports declined 62 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, the state-run Saudi General Authority for Statistics announced yesterday.

In an official statement, the authority said that the kingdom’s oil exports amounted to some 74.8 billion riyals ($19.9 billion) during the second quarter of this year.

Crude exports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, have continued to decline as global demand dropped as a result of the novel coronavirus.

Indian Govt again cuts import duty on masoor dal

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) The government has reduced the import duty on masoor dal by 20 per cent till October-end, a move aimed at increasing availability in the domestic market.

A notification of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has amended a June 2017 notification "so as to reduce" the basic customs duty on lentil (masoor dal) for the period from September 18, 2020 to October 31, 2020".

The import duty on lentil has been reduced from 30 per cent to 10 per cent from countries other than the US.

India: Farmers hold protests against Farm bills in Punjab

Chandigarh, Sep 16 (PTI) Farmers' groups on Wednesday held protests at several places in Punjab against "anti-farmer" bills introduced by the Union government in Parliament.

They said the government should have consulted the farming community on the bills, which were promulgated as ordinances earlier, as they could adversely impact them.

India: SAD asks Rajya Sabha MPs to oppose farm Bills

Chandigarh, Sep 16 (PTI) The Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday issued a whip to its members in the Rajya Sabha, asking them to oppose the Centre's farm-related legislations in the House.

It was issued by the party's chief whip Naresh Gujral.

They were directed to opposed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020; Farmers' Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; and Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.

China becomes EU's top trading partner in first 7 months: Eurostat

BRUSSELS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- In the first seven months of 2020, China became the top trading partner of the European Union (EU), a position previously held by the United States, said Eurostat on Wednesday.

EU's imports from China increased by 4.9 percent in the January-July period, compared to the same period last year, whereas its imports from the U.S. dropped by 11.7 percent.

The bloc's exports to China recorded a slight drop of 1.8 percent, while those to the U.S. fell by 9.9 percent, according to the EU's statistical office.

India: Total tax collection falls 22.5% till Sep 15

Mumbai, Sep 16 (PTI) Total tax collection of the Centre, including advance tax collection for the second quarter, fell 22.5 per cent to Rs 2,53,532.3 crore till September 15 of the current fiscal as compared to the year-ago period, according to an income tax department source.

The source shared some details about the provisional data.

During the same period ended September 15, 2019, total tax collection stood at Rs 3,27,320.2 crore, the income tax department source from Mumbai zone told PTI over phone on Wednesday.

Egypt cuts highways across pyramids plateau, alarming conservationists

16 Sep 2020; MEMO: Egypt is building two highways across the pyramids plateau outside Cairo, reviving and expanding a project that was suspended in the 1990s after an international outcry.

The Great Pyramids, Egypt’s top tourist destination, are the sole survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world and the plateau is a UNESCO world heritage site.

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