Currencies & bullion Information

8 July 2011

IMF approves 3.2 bln euro loan tranche for Greece

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Friday approved a disbursement of about 3.2 billion euros to help Greece pay debts due this month.

ACWA Power and World Bank sign deal for Jordan project

RIYADH: Riyadh-based International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power), has signed an agreement in Dubai with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group, to improve a power project in Jordan.

Real estate bubble needs to be corrected for decent housing: Top Saudi architect

JEDDAH: A leading Saudi architect is of the view that the real estate bubble needs to be corrected to realize the government’s vision of decent housing for all.

Jobs data hits stocks, but earnings optimism intact

NEW YORK: US stocks dropped on Friday and the Nasdaq looked to end an eight-day winning streak as a weak jobs report dashed hopes the economy was emerging from a soft patch, though the start of earnings season next week kept investors engaged.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks as Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin looks on at a meeting during his visit to the town of Kirishi in the Leningrad region. (Reuters)

Russia to increase oil output

KIRISHI, Russia: Russia will increase oil production by less than 1 percent this year, to 508-509 million tons, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at an industry meeting on export duty for oil and product exports. Russia produced around 505 million tons last year.

Arab stocks rebound on semi-annual results, higher oil prices

AMMAN: Arab stock markets scored modest gains last week as investors appeared upbeat over second quarter earnings and surging oil prices, financial analysts said Friday.

Turkish industrial output beats forecast

ISTANBUL: Turkish assets were mixed on Friday as a disappointing US jobs report hampered investor appetite for riskier emerging market assets while better-than-expected Turkish May industrial output data raised fears Turkey’s surging economy may be overheating.

JPMorgan close to becoming the top US lender

NEW YORK: JPMorgan Chase & Co. is close to vaulting past Bank of America Corp. to become the biggest bank in the US, but it will likely get there in an odd way — by shrinking less than its rival. Both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are getting smaller as they shake off the excesses of the years leading up to the financial crisis. If JPMorgan becomes the biggest, chief executive Jamie Dimon could see the validation of his cautious management before and during the crisis.

Twitter security lags some other sites: Experts

BOSTON/NEW YORK: The fast-growing microblogging site Twitter has fallen behind some other Internet services in introducing tools to help secure the accounts of users, security experts say.

Marks & Spencer seen beating retail gloom with sales rise

LONDON: Retailer Marks & Spencer is set to report a seventh consecutive rise in underlying quarterly sales as its older and more affluent customers cope better than most with a squeeze in disposable incomes.

SBI plans to raise $5bn in overseas debt

NEW DELHI: State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, plans to raise $5 billion via overseas debt in the current fiscal year, its chairman said, if demand for loans pick up in the growing economy.

Strong quarterly revenue forecast for top IT firms in India

MUMBAI: India’s top three software services exporters are expected to report strong quarterly revenue growth with demand remaining healthy despite concerns about the global economy.

Petrovietnam eyes oil assets in disputed South China Sea

HANOI: Petrovietnam and its partners may buy $1.5 billion in Vietnamese oil assets in the contentious South China Sea from ConocoPhillips to help protect Hanoi’s territorial claims, the chief executive of the state oil group said.

Okonjo-Iweala quits World Bank to be Nigeria finance minister

ABUJA/WASHINGTON: World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala resigned her post in order to become Nigeria’s new finance minister, spurring hopes of reform in sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy.

Obama: Debt limit fight fuels business uncertainty

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Friday the impasse over the US debt limit was contributing to the economy’s weakness by adding to business uncertainty.

Bahrain budget gap widens to $1.2bn in 2010

DUBAI: Bahrain’s budget deficit widened to 459.7 million dinars ($1.2 billion) in 2010 from 446 million in 2009 as lower oil prices took their toll, finance ministry data showed.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, talks with members of the media at the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP)

Google’s Schmidt sees room for several social networks

SUN VALLEY, Idaho: Google is leaving open the door to more co-operation with social-media giants Facebook and Twitter, and believes there is room for multiple social networks as it rolls out its own, executive chairman Eric Schmidt said.

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Samsung Electronics flat screen TV sets are displayed at a store at the company's main office in Seoul. (Reuters)

Samsung profit falls as weak LCDs overshadow mobiles

SEOUL: Profit at Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and televisions, fell by a quarter as weak earnings at its flat screen unit dragged, underlying the conglomerate’s struggle to return to last year’s record profit. A bleak outlook for computers and TVs and a wobbly global economy is overshadowing robust sales of Samsung’s new version of its flagship Galaxy S smartphone, which has emerged as a major competitor to Apple’s blockbuster iPhone.

Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar poses with a model of Boeing 787 during a news conference in New Delhi. (Reuters)

Boeing ‘has airline orders worth $15bn in India’

MUMBAI: Boeing has existing orders of about $15 billion with airlines in India, a top executive said as demand from low cost carriers and developing cities continues to rise.