European equities were set to inch higher on Wednesday, adding to a sharp two-day rally, on growing optimism over the corporate earnings season. But the gains could be limited by mounting investor worries over signs of tightening in China. Official media and banking sources said on Wednesday Chinese banking authorities have instructed some major banks
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Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis participated on Tuesday in the first ECOFIN meeting under the Spanish EU presidency, in Brussels, during which the Spanish presidency presented its programme for the ECOFIN Council for the next six months. The programme aims at meeting the needs and challenges of the current financial situation. Stavrakis also participated in
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. If you consider any three award-winning winemakers, each one a powerful individualist, you could be forgiven to think they would be unlikely to work together. But Costas Tsiakkas (pictured, left), Sophocles Vlassides (centre) and Pambos Argyrides, whose experiences are very different, do. They collaborate in the vineyard and the winery, exchanging knowledge, know-how and
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) announced that the RICS Cyprus Property Index is in its final stages of completion and is expected to be launched by the end of the month. The project is in the phase of selecting the property portfolio on which it will be based, with experts and academics in
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. We challenge Trade Minister Antonis Paschalides to reveal the name of the establishment that charged 6 euros for a soft drink, a statement he must have made under pressure from TV reporters, but stopped short of naming and shaming the profiteer. Once again, the Minister made a trail-blazing declaration that the government would sue
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Sweden’s tax office is chasing some 400 cases of tax evasion by entrepreneurs who have been transferring their funds to Cyprus, with the loss for Sweden estimated at 48 mln euros. Such activity was banned by the Swedish authorities by a new law in November, according to reports published by Skatteverket. It seems that the
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Dropped from €1.07 bln to €215 mln in 2009 The value of mergers and acquisitions involving Cyprus-based companies plunged by 80% in 2009 to EUR 215 mln, a far cry from the EUR 1.07 bln in deal concluded in 2008 and the record EUR 2.65 bln reached in 2007, according to the Annual M&A Survey
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The European Union and rating agencies piled pressure on Greece's government on Tuesday to quickly implement budget cuts but the agencies sounded cautiously optimistic over plans to fix public finances. Standard & Poor's and Moody's said it was key for Greece to start immediately cutting its budget deficit, which hit 12.7 percent of gross domestic
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Oil fell below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending its recent losing streak, as producer group OPEC said supply was ample to meet winter demand and trimmed estimated demand for its oil. U.S. crude fell 6 cents to $77.94 a barrel by 1455 GMT. The New York Mercantile Exchange will combine prices for Monday and
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2010 may turn out to be the year of the commodity fund. Burnt by the financial crisis of the last two years, money managers are now raising sharply the amount of money allocated to raw materials such as oil, gold, copper, sugar and coffee. The value of commodity funds looks set to grow by a
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