Ukraine said on Wednesday it had put off introducing curbs on grain exports because the world market had settled after Russia's export ban and the Ukrainian home market was no longer threatened by demand from abroad. But Ukrainian customs continued to enforce de facto export restrictions by blocking grain shipments from sea ports on the

World stocks fell for a fifth day on Wednesday as worries about a double-dip recession persisted, while the yen eased from a 15-year high on speculation that Japan may intervene to weaken its currency. Data from the United States showed the housing sector continues to suffer and in Europe, Standard & Poor's sent a reminder

New U.S. single-family home sales slumped to the slowest pace on record in July and orders for costly durable goods were weak, according to government reports on Wednesday that heightened fears the economy was at risk of a new downturn. The Commerce Department said single-family home sales plummeted 12.4% to a 276,000 unit annual rate

The premium investors demand to buy Greek government bonds rather than German benchmarks rose on Wednesday to the highest level since May 10 when an EU/IMF rescue package for Greece was announced. Worries about the peripheral sector grew after Ireland's one notch downgrade to AA-minus by Standard & Poor's late on Tuesday. Traders said very

Dubai's Nakheel has $10.9 bln of bank debt and will receive key assets from parent company Dubai World for its business plan after separation, a restructuring document showed on Wednesday. The developer, which overstretched itself building islands in the shape of palms and other ambitious real estate, has $5.1 bln of trade creditor claims and

Dubai World plans to sell its prized assets over a period of eight years to generate as much as $19.4 bln to pay off creditors burned by its overambitious expansion, according to a restructuring document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. The state-owned conglomerate told creditors at a July 22 meeting, held at Dubai's lavish Atlantis

German business morale rose to its highest in more than three years in August, an unexpected gain that boosted confidence Europe's largest economy will keep growing even if others slip back into recession. The Munich-based Ifo think tank said on Wednesday its business climate index rose to 106.7 from 106.2 in July, the third rise

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday cut its ratings on Ireland and assigned the country a negative outlook, saying it expects Ireland faces substantially higher costs to support its ailing financial institutions. S&P cut Ireland's long-term rating one step to AA-minus, the fourth highest investment grade. A negative outlook indicates another downgrade is more likely over

Greece's economy will contract less than an official 4.0 percent forecast this year and government guarantees to banks are aimed at ensuring adequate credit expansion, the country's finance minister said. "The economy is in recession but one that is more shallow than what was initially expected. The year should close with a performance that is

Crude bounced from a seven-week low on Wednesday as investors looked for relief in U.S. oil inventory numbers due later in the day, heartened by separate Tuesday figures indicating a fall in crude stocks. Analysts say Tuesday's 1.8 mln barrel drop in U.S. crude inventories from the American Petroleum Institute could be confirmed by parallel