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.
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