Industry metals were mixed on Wednesday amid weak industry data releases from the Euro Zone. Copper, traditional driver of the metals pack, lost 0.17% as Collahuasi's copper mine resumed its operations. In addition, depreciating US Dollar and weak global equities continued to weight down on the metals' price. Aluminium was resilient to disappointing PMI data as the metal found support
Precious metals rallied on Wednesday amid broadly weaker US Dollar and weak PMI data releases from the Euro Zone. Platinum, the top performer, added 2.22% over the day and was the driver for other precious metals' gains. Platinum price was mainly bolstered by the expected output cuts. Impala Platinum Holdings announced it would halve April deliveries due to prolonged strike
German DAX index maintained downward trend on Thursday despite the fact German business confidence improved more than predicted in February. Among main decliners was Deutsche Telekom which plunged 3% after the company predicted a further decline in its profits in 2012. Commerzbank provided the main negative contribution to index after European Commission lowered Euro Zone annual growth forecasts, from 0.5%
British FTSE 100 index traded higher on Thursday strongly affected by earnings reports. British American Tobacco gave up 1.2% despite reporting an 7.5% increase in its net profit for fiscal year 2011. Royal Bank of Scotland rallied 5% although lender reported twice as big as expected drop in 4th quarter profit. RBS also booked loss on its Greek sovereign debt.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed slightly down on Thursday as Chinese PM Wen Jiabao signalled he may lower China's economic growth target below 8%. Hang Seng index slipped 0.78% or 168.29 points to 21,380.99 led by financial and property shares. HSBC Holdings PLC gave up 1.5% while Henderson Land Development lost 1.9%. Rival Cathay Pacific Airways tumbled 2.8%. Esprit
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average extended gains on Thursday as exporters kept gathering gains from record weak Yen. Nikkei 225 index added 0.39% or 36.76 points and settled at 9,590.76. Olympus climbed 4%, Fujitsu added 3% while Nissan Motors surged 1.6%. Mazda Motors shares extended losses and fell 7% as the company predicted biggest yearly loss in 11 years earlier this
Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed lower on Wednesday as investors remained cautious regarding long term stability of Greece and several companies released earnings reports. Blue chip index fell 0.21% or 27.02 points to 12,938.67. Wal-Mart Stores posted the biggest loss for the index and extended its decline, giving up 2.5%. On Tuesday company reported disappointing 4th quarter profit. Hewlett
S&P 500 index declined on Wednesday, pushed down by earnings reports and investor sentiment after gathering news about weaker Chinese and European PMI data. American index lost 0.33% or 4.55 points and closed at 1,357.66. Dell fell 6% after reporting an 18% drop in profit for the quarter ended in January. Land-drilling contractor Narbors reported 4th-quarter revenue and earnings that
Deutsche Telekom AG predicts a further decline in its profits this year. The company already has posted EUR 1.34 billion (USD 1.8 billion) quarterly net loss caused by write downs on T-Mobile USA and losses on its Greek business. Company's EBITDA may is likely to drop by 3.7% compared to 2011. Deutsche Telekom, failed to sell its US wireless unit to AT&T Inc. in
German business confidence improved more than predicted in February on EU leader progress in tackling debt turmoil. According to Ifo institute the business climate index rose from 108.3 last month to 109.6 in February. Economists questioned by Bloomberg earlier predicted an improvement to 108.8. The approval of Greece's rescue package and falling borrowing costs in Italy and Spain fuelled investor
Gold, silver and nickel are expected to have a bullish sentiment at the MCX on Thursday, reported Angel Commodities, referring to technical indicators. However, these commodities may be pressured by the escalated worries over global economic instability after bleak Euro Zone's PMI releases on Wednesday.
Indonesia's inflation rate is expected to remain above 5.5% in 2012 in case the government increases fuel prices by over 1,000 Indonesian Rupiah per liter, reported the Bank Indonesia. Previous estimation of the bank indicated the expected increase in the CPI may vary between 3.5 and 5.5% this year. The government has to decide till April whether to increase fuel
China's government considers the ways to boost FDI as the country faced declining FDI from the developed economies in 2011 and the outlook for this year is not positive, trade official announced. US FDI to China dropped by 26.07% to 2 billion US Dollars while FDI from the EU declined by 3.65% to 6.35 billion US Dollars last year. Experts
Royal Bank of Scotland posted a GBP 1.8 billion loss compared to a profit of GBP 12 million in corresponding quarter year ago. The drop in profit was twice as big as expected, mainly triggered by a 17% drop in revenue which decelerated from GBP 7.14 billion to GBP 5.92 billion. Economists questioned by Bloomberg predicted a net loss to reach
Crude oil futures posted losses during the electronic session on Thursday. Even a slight decline in the US Dollar did not provided a further lift for the energy commodity price. Light, sweet crude oil April contract traded at 105.96 US Dollars per barrel during the Asian afternoon session on Thursday, falling by 32 cents, or by 0.3%.
Barack Obama proposed to decrease the corporate tax from 35% to 28% by paying for reduction through abandoning subsidies and tax loopholes, said Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary. The move is aimed at increasing domestic investment as well as stimulating labour market. Further, the lowered corporate tax will simplify tax code and decrease deficiencies in the US tax system.
Cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco reported an 7.5% increase in its net profit for fiscal year 2011. Company also said that despite global uncertainty, it has a positive financial outlook for 2012. British American Tobacco net profit climbed to GBP 3.1 billion in 2011 compared to GBP 2.88 million in previous year. Revenue added 3%.
US equities traded mostly lower on Wednesday as investor sentiment was hampered by weaker European and Chinese PMI data amid HP earnings report. Greece's stability also remained in focus. S&P 500 index lost 0.33% or 4.55 points and closed at 1,357.66, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.21% or 27.02 points to 12,938.67 and Nasdaq Composite gave up 0.52% or 15.40
German manufacturing activity fell to two-month low this month, according to official data. The German manufacturing PMI measured by Markit lost seasonally adjusted 0.9 points to 50.1 this month as compared to 51.0 in the preceding month. Experts predicted to indicator to add 0.5 points to 51.5. Moreover, the services sector posted losses, falling by 1.1 points to 52.6 while
Credit Agricole SA announced wider loss for Q4 citing 4% fall in revenue. The lost amounted 3.07 billion Euros compared with the 328 million Euros in the preceding quarter. Analysts of FactSet Research predicted the loss to approach 2.7 billion Euros. The company will not declare dividend for 2011, reported Credit Agricole.
The yellow metals posted some gains on the technical buying and weak Euro Zone's PMI data that increased gold's safe haven appeal. COMEX gold futures for delivery in April traded at 1,775.95 US Dollars per troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, advancing by 0.25%.
Belgium business climate improved this month but stayed in the negative area for 10th month in line. The business climate index measured by the National Bank of Belgium improved by seasonally adjusted 1.8% to minus 7.7 this month as compared to minus 9.5 in January. Experts predicted the index to add 1.0 attaining minus 8.5 this month. Business confidence was
European shares traded notably lower on Wednesday after Euro Zone PMI unexpectedly indicated contraction and Fitch cut Greece's credit rating to C. Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.8%, French CAC 40 index edged down 0.5% and German DAX index fell 0.9%. FTSE 100 index and Athens General index lost 0.2% and 5.7% respectively.
Canadian Dollar depreciated against its US peer on Wednesday as investor willingness to accept risk was curbed by declines in global stock markets amid renewed worries about economic growth. Canadian currency fell 0.3% against the US Dollar to CAD 0.9998. Currently USD/CAD is trading at CAD 0.9998.