Firmer miners helped Britain's leading shares index higher at midday on Monday, as investors' risk appetite improved, but further falls by BP weighed on the energy sector. At 1040 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 25.99 points or 0.5 percent at 5,189.67, extending its recent rally into a fourth session. "The theme today has

From Morocco to the Straits of Hormuz, banks in the Arab world have been comparatively well insulated from the effects of the recent global financial disruption and ensuing recession, Moody's Investors Service said in a new Special Comment. However, Moody's noted that the region's banks continue to face challenges that vary dramatically from one sub-region

The credit environment for corporate issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region will remain challenging, especially for selected vulnerable corporate issuers that need to address significant debt maturities by 2012, Moody's Investors Service said in a new report on the GCC corporate sector. "The 2012 wall of maturing debt poses a major challenge for GCC

The German government sees no sign Spain will apply to tap a European aid mechanism designed to help countries with Greek-style payment problems, two government sources said on Monday. "We have not seen any such signals," one of the German government sources told Reuters. Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing a German government source, reported earlier

The leaders of France and Germany will seek to overcome deep-rooted disagreements on European economic governance at a meeting in Berlin on Monday, setting the tone for a European Union summit later this week. A show of unity from Berlin and Paris, the motors behind European integration, is seen as crucial for reaching decisions at

Asian stocks rose to a one-month high on Monday, led by a rally in the technology sector, while the euro rebounded in thin trade, squeezed higher by dealers forced to close bets against the currency. Major European stock futures were up as much as 1.1 percent as investors bought back risky assets. Global equities are

European Union leaders will make a new attempt this week to convince financial markets they can contain a debt crisis by agreeing how to tighten economic policy coordination and strengthen budget discipline. The 27 EU member states and the executive European Commission will also set out plans for boosting economic growth and creating jobs at

The Cypriot economy is expected to contract by 0.5 percent in 2010 but rebound in 2011 with growth of 1.3 percent, the island's Central Bank said on Friday. In its semi-annual report, the Central Bank said its latest forecasts were in line with an expected drop-off in domestic demand, and a slowdown in construction and

There is a growing worry for investors as they head towards the second half of the year — will governments' increased appetite for budget cutting knock the nascent global economic recovery off track? The answer might come down to a somewhat discredited concept, the "decoupling" of economies that sees some driving forward while others lag.