The UK government has not set a sale timetable or revenue targets for its shares in Britain's part- and fully nationalised banks, reducing the risks attached to a disposal, an official at the body managing the stakes said. John Crompton, head of market investments at UK Financial Investments (UKFI), said there were no targets along

World stocks climbed and the dollar fell on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, with investors' search for higher returns reflected in the New Zealand dollar's surge to 13-month highs. European equities followed Asia markets higher in early trading, while safe-haven U.S. and German government bond prices and the U.S. dollar all

Britain's leading share index rose 1 percent in early trade on Tuesday, buoyed by a rebound in commodity issues which gained strength from a rise in metals and oil prices, while defensive utilities lost ground. By 0817 GMT the FTSE 100 was up 48.64 points at 5,183.00, after closing 0.7 percent lower on Monday to

European equities resumed their upward march on Tuesday after two sessions of losses, with a rebound in crude prices powering energy stocks, but investors remained cautious ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting. At 0823 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was 1 percent higher at 1,008.74 points after falling 0.7 percent

Say goodbye to the "black brick" laptop. The era of the plain, dowdy PC is officially over. As computer makers roll out their new notebooks and netbooks ahead of the end-year holiday shopping season, razor-thin, sleek and colorful are most definitely in, as are arresting designs in an ever-expanding array of choices. Hewlett-Packard Co and

An adviser to the European Union's top court backed Google on Tuesday in a row with luxury goods maker LVMH over Internet advertising, saying the Web search firm had not infringed trade mark rights. "Advocate General Poiares Maduro considers that Google has not infringed trade mark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to

Moody's outlook for the European retailers it rates remains negative, although food retailers have generally been resilient to the downturn given the counter-cyclical nature of their products. In addition, the pace of negative rating actions for non-food retailers has slowed in the past year. Given the more positive outlook for the Eurozone economies in 2010

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis purged several scandal-tainted politicians from his Oct. 4 election ticket but analysts said it would likely not be enough to appease voters frustrated by a culture of corruption. Final party lists published on Monday left out several former ministers who have been implicated in scandals. But analysts said New Democracy,

Presidential politicking ahead of the January 2010 election is behind the policy confusion that has reigned at Ukraine's central bank (NBU) for more than a year, according to Moody's latest comment. More broadly, the agency said, policy disarray across the macroeconomic spectrum threatens a new standoff with the IMF and another break in confidence that