Britain's top share index was lower at midday on Friday, with gains in defensive pharmaceutical stocks and food producers outweighed by weakness in banks and energy stocks. By 1158 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent or 15.28 points at 5252.48 after closing down 1.4 percent on Thursday, its biggest one-day fall for three
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Investors gave up a brief flirtation with higher stocks and a higher dollar on Friday as world equities fell and the dollar climbed. Wall Street looked set to open lower. In recent months, the U.S. currency and equities have moved in opposite directions, with the former getting hit every time risk appetite bolsters the latter
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The Bank of Japan upgraded its economic assessment on Friday, setting itself up for a confrontation with a government pressing for a policy response to deflation and a possible return to recession. The Japanese government published a report that pronounced the economy officially in deflation for the first time since 2006, and the finance minister
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European shares rebounded on Friday from the previous session's sharp falls and snapped a three-day losing run, lifted by banks and oil producers but Fiat fell on a UBS downgrade. By 0901 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,014.88 points after losing 1.6 percent on Thursday to
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Britain's top share index rose 0.6 percent in early trade on Friday as commodity and banking stocks led a broad-based rally By 0900 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 30.65 points at 5298.35 after closing down 74.43 points at 5267.70 on Thursday, its biggest one-day fall for three weeks. "Yesterday we saw profit taking in
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President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias has said he looks forward to close cooperation with the EU leadership elected on Thursday evening during an informal meeting of the EU leaders. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was named the EU’s first president while British Catherine Ashton was appointed High Representative of the Union
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown notes in an article that ''this is a crucial moment for Cyprus and its people,'' and in a message to the leaders of the two communities says they can make history and the United Kingdom will support them, noting that with flexibility and compromise, an agreement is possible next year.
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New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web. Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after
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Sony Corp said on Friday that its planned entertainment content distribution service for network-compatible TVs and other devices will be launched next year. Sony plans to launch a new online service to distribute movies, music, books and other content to network-capable TVs, Blu-ray players, ebooks and others in a bid to add value to its
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The wireless chip industry expects smartphone market surge to continue, with British microchip designer ARM saying growth would likely even accelerate further next year. The smartphone market slowed drastically in the September quarter, but chip makers — whose products are sold weeks, if not months, before phones are sold to consumers — said they were
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