The Nikkei average rose to a two-week high on Friday, after a planned merger of two steel firms lifted hopes for restructuring in corporate Japan and provided fresh momentum for the benchmark which had been widely seen as due for a correction. Better-than-expected results or annual guidance from the likes of Sony Corp, Hitachi Ltd

The rate of inflation for January 2011 recorded an increase and rose to 2,8% compared to 1,6% for December 2010 and 2,4% for January 2010. According to an announcement issued on Thursday by the Statistical Service, the Consumer Price Index for January 2011, decreased by 0,94 units, or 0,82% to 113,51 units compared to 114,45

You may not be able to change your bad boss, but there are ways to at least tilt the dynamic in your favor, according to says Harvard Business Review. The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http://www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed

Inflation is likely to climb further and could exceed the European Central Bank's target for most of the year but poses no threat yet to medium-term price stability, President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday. Euro zone inflation accelerated to 2.4 percent last month, moving further above the ECB's target of just below 2 percent. Trichet

The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold at a record low of 1.0 percent as expected on Thursday, despite rising inflation fears. Euro zone inflation hit 2.4 percent in January, topping the ECB's target of below, but close to 2 percent for the second month in a row. Nevertheless, all 82 economists in

Stockpiling antiviral flu drugs and vaccines saves lives and reduces disease in a flu pandemic, but is too expensive for around two thirds of the world's population, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers from Singapore found that stockpiling flu drugs such as Roche's <ROG.VX> Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza "significantly reduced" death rates, but said many nations

Britain's top share index fell on Thursday, with energy shares lower after results from Royal Dutch Shell disappointed investors and dented sector sentiment. Royal Dutch Shell shed 2.8%, taking around 15 points off London's blue chip index, after the firm posted below-forecast fourth-quarter profit. Peer BG Group, which reports on Tuesday, fell 1.1%, while oil

Copper knocked over the $10,000 per tonne barrier on Thursday while grains and sugar also hovered near peaks as investors bet that supply shortages would keep commodity prices on the boil. Prospects of global economic recovery boosted industrial metals, sending both copper and tin to peaks, while snowstorms paralysed the bread bowl of the United

Activity in Britain's dominant services sector grew at its fastest pace in eight months in January as business recovered from December's snow disruption, a survey showed, bolstering the case for higher interest rates. Thursday's purchasing managers' survey from Markit/CIPS also showed a record jump in input cost inflation in the services sector, which is likely

Consumers can use cheaper foreign TV decoders to watch soccer, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday, in a legal opinion that could change the way the English Premier League sells broadcasting rights. The non-binding opinion by Advocate General Juliane Kokott at the European Court of Justice centres on whether a rights holder