Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slightly advanced on Friday lifted by overall global optimism as German business confidence surged and US jobless claims stayed steady. Hang Seng index gained 0.12% or 25.87 points and finished at 21,406.86. HSBC Holdings added 0.4% as experts predicted the company may report a 24% gain in its annual earnings next week. Gains were limited by property
Dow Jones Industrial Average index traded higher on Thursday as investors digested news about US employment and 0.7% price increase for US homes in December. Blue chip index climbed 0.36% or 46.02 points and closed at 12,984.69 with eight of nine industries posting gains. Procter& Gamble rallied 3% after company said it identified $10 billion in costs it can reduce
Lloyds Banking Group Plc, one of the UK largest lenders, announced its annual loss for 2011 was worse than expected. The total yearly loss amounted to GBP 2.8 billion (USD 4.4 billion) compared to a GBP 320 million loss in 2010, said Lloyds in its statement. Analysts questioned by Bloomberg earlier predicted a loss of GBP 2.41 billion.
Fitch Ratings downgraded three major Australian banks: Commonwealth Bank of Australia's, National Australia Bank Limited's and Westpac Banking Corporation's. Meanwhile, rating of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group was affirmed at aa-. The rating agency cited increased vulnerability of the banks to swings in confidence and weak funding profile.
Iraqi Grain Board has reduced the standards of grain quality its purchases from abroad thus enabling Iraq to buy on price from such countries as India and China. Iraq used to be one of the major importers of the US rice and the halt in imports coupled with unfavorable weather forecasts and growing production prices disappointed US farmers. Experts expect
AIG announced essential increase in profit for Q4 amid 17.7 billion US Dollars tax benefit. The net income for the period approached 19.8 billion US Dollars as compared to 11.2 billion US Dollars for the same quarter in the preceding year. The company is allowed not to pay taxes on large among of future profits due to benefits provided after
EIA reported that average four-week demand for the refined products in the US tumbled to the 15-year low. The demand for such products as distillates and gasoline declined to 18.05 million barrels per day, indicating a 6.7% annual fall. Gasoline demand decreased by 6.1% while consumption of distillates fell by 5.9% on a yearly basis. At the same time, crude
EIA reported that average four-week demand for the refined products in the US tumbled to the 15-year low. The demand for such products as distillates and gasoline declined to 18.05 million barrels per day, indicating a 6.7% annual fall. Gasoline demand decreased by 6.1% while consumption of distillates fell by 5.9% on a yearly basis. At the same time, crude
Greece's parliament ratified the law allowing debt swap deal with private bondholders that is the main requirement for receiving bailout package from the EU and IMF. Private creditors will have to write down 53.5% for the bonds thus reducing Greek debt by 107 billion Euros. After approving debt swap deal the parliament will embark on designing the austerity measures further
Gold and silver futures posted losses during the Asian trading hours on Friday on the lack of fresh stimulus to Thursday's momentum that pushed the precious metals price to several-month highs. COMEX gold futures for April delivery traded at 1,780.70 an ounce, falling by 5.60 US Dollars while silver futures for delivery in March traded at 35.40 US Dollars per
The Euro Zone's economy is likely to shrink by 0.3% this year, reported the European Commission. Previous forecasts predicted the region's economy to expand by 0.5% this year. The EC added that unexpected slowdown in recovery in the end of 2011 may impact the common currency union further. At the same time, the recession will be 'mild' as the signs
Germany's business climate improved more than initially expected in February, gaining for the fourth month in line. Ifo Business Climate Index added 1.3 points to 109.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis this month as compared to 108.3 in January. Experts predicted the figure to advance by 0.5 points approaching 108.8.
Japanese Yen kept depreciating on Friday as 3-year record low volatility bolstered investor demand for riskier currencies. Japan's currency weakened 0.4% versus Euro to JPY 107.42 and slid 0.5% against greenback to JPY 80.40. Currently USD/JPY is trading at JPY 80.52 and EUR/JPY is trading at JPY 107.65.
Shanghai court has rejected the request to ban the sales of iPad in Shanghai. The case was brought to court by the Shenzhen unit of Proview International Holdings Ltd. on February 22. The company accused Apple Inc. of violating IPR as two companies had a dispute on who is the owner of iPad tablet brand on the territory of China.
Crude oil futures added to previous gains during the Asian session on Friday. Crude oil was mainly supported by the geopolitical tensions as well as positive data from the US and Germany. Light, sweet crude oil April contract traded at 108.54 US Dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, soaring 0.66%.
Most of European stock markets traded notably lower on Thursday after European Commission revised down its Euro Zone growth forecast for 2012 from 0.5% to 0.3%, indicating it predicts mild recession. Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.2% while German DAX fell 0.5%. French CAC traded flat but FTSE 100 index managed to end 0.4% higher supported by RBS earnings report.
US equity markets opened lower in the Thursday morning but recovered and finished up as the number of unemployment claims was unchanged last week and data showed US home prices climbed in December. S&P 500 index gained 0.43% or 5.80 points and settled at 1,363.46, Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.36% or 46.02 points and closed at 12,984.69 while Nasdaq
SAP AG, leading producer of business management software and applications announced it prepares to increase the amount of dividend by 83%, adding a special premium for 40th anniversary. If approved by supervisory board and shareholders the total payout amount would equal EUR 1.3 billion. In January SAP AG posted a 4th quarter profit and sales that outperformed analyst expectations and predicted positive outlook for 2012.
Australian Dollar appreciated on Friday ending week higher as RBA governor Glen Stevens claimed the current monetary policy is appropriate lessened investor expectation for further key benchmark rate cut in short term. Aussie gained 0.3% against US Dollar to USD 1.0745 and strengthened 0.7% to Japanese Yen, attaining JPY 86.30. Kiwi climbed 0.3% against is US peer to USD 0.8387. Currently AUD/USD
Bank of America, the second largest US lender, has decided to stop selling loans to State owned Fannie Mae as both parties cannot agree who should take responsibility and bear costs of deficient mortgages. BoA is halting loans for Fannie Mae starting from February. From BoA point of view it is too risky to engage in business with Fannie Mae, said David
US home prices gained seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December and finished the year with a 2.4% decline, said Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). During the last quarter prices diminished by 0.1%. However, about 50% of all US states experienced a price increase in 4th quarter which may be a signal of a slight recovery, said Andrew Leventis, the Principal Economist
The number of jobless claims was unchanged last week, said the Labor Department yesterday. The applications for unemployment benefits remained at 351 000. Economists questioned by Marketwatch expected claims would climb to 353 000. On four week basis the average number of applications has declined by 7000, reaching the record low since March 2008.
Rural commodities, excluding coffee, advanced on Wednesday. Wheat was the top gainer but the pace of rally slowed down on the improving weather conditions in the US, implying that wheat output is sufficient to meet global demand. Corn mainly followed the wheat lead. Sugar continued to draw some short-living support from the expected shortage of exports from the main cane
Energy commodities were mainly higher on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions continued to stimulate upward movement of the energy price. However, weaker than expected PMI releases and speculation that recent Greek bailout is not sufficient to rescue the country's economy limited the gains. Narrowing spread between the WTI and Brent oil also lent some support to the WTI crude oil prices.