Britain's benchmark equity index fell on Thursday, weighed down by falls in heavyweight healthcare stocks, while strong UK retail sales data reignited the prospect of an earlier-than-expected interest rate rise. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down by 0.6%, or 37.37 points, at 6,550.06 points in mid-session trade. Healthcare stocks AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline fell 2.3
More
China's powerful price regulator could target the petroleum, telecommunications, banking and auto sectors next in its investigations into violations of the country's anti-trust laws, state media quoted a senior official as saying. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) would look at industries that have an impact on the lives of ordinary Chinese, China Central
More
World shares edged lower and the dollar fell on Thursday as uncertainty over when U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting its monetary stimulus offset a brighter economic picture in Europe. Markets have largely positioned for the Fed to start paring its monthly $85 bln spending on bonds in September but unclear signals from policymakers and
More
Real GDP in the second quarter declined on a seasonally adjusted basis by 5.2% compared with the same period of 2012, according to the latest flash estimate by the Statistical Service, Cystat. This came after a decline of 4.7% in the first quarter. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the decline was 5.4% in the second
More
The government of Cyprus wants the return of the abandoned city of Famagusta as a first positive and practical step on the part of Turkey, ahead of a new round of United Nations-sponsored negotiations beginning in autumn. Acting government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said that President Nicos Anastasiades and the government condemn the continued occupation by Turkey of
More
Pope Francis told the Italian and Argentine soccer teams that he could not decide who to back in their friendly match on Wednesday, but he urged them to set a good example in their behaviour on and off the field. "It's a bit hard for me to decide who to support," Francis, an Argentine whose
More
The German and French economies grew faster than the United States in the second quarter, pulling the euro zone out of its longest recession. Growth in the 17-country bloc was 0.3% from the previous quarter, with its two biggest economies both revealing unexpected strength, data from the European Union's statistics office Eurostat showed on Wednesday.
More
Clear signs the euro zone has crawled out of an 18-month long recession supported European shares near a 10-week peak on Wednesday and saw German 10-year yields hover near their highest level in almost two months. The German economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter, its largest expansion in over a year, while the
More
The dollar clawed back ground against the yen and Japanese shares surged late in Wednesday's session, but stocks fell in much of Asia after U.S. sales data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon pare its stimulus. Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open 1 to 3 points higher, or as much as
More
The German economy grew by its strongest rate in more than a year in the second quarter, beating forecasts and suggesting that Europe's largest economy will haul the euro zone out of recession, preliminary data showed on Wednesday. The economy expanded by 0.7%, seasonally-adjusted figures from the Statistics Office showed. It was more than the
More