Greece's austerity-hit economy shrank at a faster pace than previously thought in the second quarter, casting doubt on government hopes that the future path of a protracted recession will be relatively mild. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the debt-laden country declined at an annual pace of 3.7% in the second quarter, compared with a previous
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– By Edward Taylor and Arno Schuetze, Reuters Leading bankers played down concerns an uneven economic recovery and planned stringent new capital rules could plunge the sector into more ructions. Speakers at Germany's annual Banks in Transition conference on Wednesday gave scant credence to markets jitters that re-emerged this week and have focused on the
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– By Nicholas Paisner, Reuters Breakingviews When American banks began raising private capital in early 2009, it marked the beginning of a vertiginous rebound for U.S. financial stocks. Europe's lenders will be hoping that National Bank of Greece's 1.8 bln euro cash call will be a similar watershed. At first glance, it looks as if
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– By Martin de Sa'Pinto, Reuters Assets in Europe's top 50 hedge fund managers rose by 11 percent to $300 billion between January 2009 and June 2010, helped by a surge of inflows into EU-regulated funds, data released late Tuesday showed. Data published by the Hedge Fund Journal and sponsored by fund service provider Newedge
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Greek bank stocks were shedding more than 5% just after opening on Wednesday, underperforming the broader Greek market, as a sharp drop by National Bank (NBG) shares weighed on the benchmark index. NBG late on Tuesday announced a plan to raise 2.8 bln euros via a rights offering of shares and equity notes and the
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British house prices rose for the second month running in August, mortgage lender Halifax said on Wednesday, confounding expectations for a fall though it still expected house prices to stagnate overall this year. House prices rose 0.2% in August, Halifax said, which, coming after a 0.7% rise in July, had helped to reverse declines recorded
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National Bank <NBGr.AT>, Greece's largest lender, said on Tuesday it planned to raise 2.8 billion euros to boost its capital and better cope with debt and recession in its home country. The plan includes a combined 631 million euro rights offer, the sale of convertible bonds worth 1.184 billion euros and the sale of a
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Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, led by shares in Japan's big exporters as a rise in the yen to a new 15-year high threatened to erode their overseas earnings. Major European stock markets followed Asia lower and the euro was on the defensive, after renewed fears about the euro zone banking system drove the single
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Greek Foreign Minister Demetris Droutsas arrives today in Cyprus for a two-day visit. Droutsas will hold today in the afternoon meetings with Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou and President of the House of Representatives Marios Garoyian. He will also hold separate meetings with leaders or representatives of parliamentary political parties. Tomorrow, September 9, the Greek
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The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, begin today in the morning intensive meetings, during which they will discuss the property issue in the framework of the UN-led direct talks for a Cyprus settlement. According to Alexander Downer, UN SG’s Special Advisor in Cyprus, the
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