European shares fell on Friday after China raised its banking reserve requirements, hurting miners on fears the move would hit global growth prospects, while concerns about the Irish debt crisis hit banks. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed down 0.6% at 1,101.50 points and ended the week down 0.2%. "The week

The United States and the European Union agreed on Friday to work more closely with Ukraine to speed up liberalisation of the ex-Soviet republic's energy market and open it to more investment. Holding the second meeting of the EU-U.S. energy council on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Portugal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary

U.S. regulators moved on Friday to bring more transparency to the sprawling derivatives market, hedge funds and private equity, all dimly lit corners of the financial world slated for more oversight. A raft of proposed rules issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, all preliminary, showed regulators taking cautious

Ireland came under renewed pressure from euro zone partners on Friday to accept quick support for its banks, but Dublin said it remained unclear for now how much its battered financial institutions required. A day after Ireland's central bank chief acknowledged the country needed a loan running into tens of billions of euros to shore

Asian stock markets rose slightly on Friday and the euro held recent gains after a strong Wall Street performance and moves towards heading off a potential Irish debt crisis. By 0745 GMT the MSCI All-Country World equity index was up 0.2% after hitting a one-month low earlier in the week. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index

Greece pledged on Thursday to hike VAT, freeze pensions and cut government waste further in 2011 to meet the terms of an EU/IMF bailout after admitting it will miss this year's targets. The new measures are meant to shrink the deficit by 5.1 bln euros next year to 16.8 bln euros, bringing it back to

Greece's OTE, the biggest telecoms group in the Balkans, expects the Greek economic situation to worsen next year as the country struggles to extract itself from the deepest recession in almost 40 years. "The market situation next year will become worse than it is now," newly appointed CEO Michael Tsamaz told the Morgan Stanley annual

Oil rose above $82 a barrel on Friday on a stronger euro ahead of an expected bailout of Ireland as well as on expectations China could lift interest rates to curb inflation. U.S. crude for December delivery, which expires after Friday's settlement, rose 55 cents to $82.40 a barrel by 0955 GMT. North Sea benchmark

European shares fell back on Friday after strong gains the previous session, with miners lower on worries that China, the world's biggest metals user, will raise interest rates. Most analysts remained optimistic for progress in resolving Ireland's debt crisis, but banks fell on longer-term worries about euro zone debt. At 1005 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300