Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings said Thursday it has come to an agreement to buy New Zealand’s leading ready-to-drink cocktail company, Independent Liquor, for $1.31bn from Pacific Equity Partners and Unitas Capital Pte.
 
 The brewer hopes to grow a stronger position in New Zealand and Australia, and aims to increase its overseas sales between 20 percent […]

Stocks in Europe fell on Wednesday after a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel late on Tuesday to discuss the area’s rescue fund and borrowing. The duo had been under pressure to re-establish market confidence after a bout of volatility and uncertainty. Tokyo’s Nikkei and S&P 500 were 0.6 percent and […]

Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, saw a near stalling in 2Q11 as its GDP grew by just 0.1 percent between April and June, according to the country’s Federal Statistics Office. The figure, which was below market expectations of 0.5 percent, marks a substantial drop from the downwardly amended 1Q11 increase of 1.3 percent and raises concerns […]

Japan’s economy contracted during 2Q11 at a slower than expected pace by an annualised rate of 0.3 percent in the three months to the end of June, the cabinet office said. Real GDP was down 1.3 percent and showed stronger signs of recovery thanks to consumer spending in the wake of the March earthquake and […]

Amid heightened international market volatility, ESMA, the EU’s regulator, announced late on Thursday that France, Belgium, Spain and Italy have banned short selling in an attempt to curb rumours and halt the precipitous fall in value of troubled EU banks. In Spain and France the ban will last 15 days and is only applicable to stocks […]

The Paris stock exchange lost over five percent of value and French financials were hammered late on Wednesday amid rumours that French banks were in serious difficulty. France’s second-largest bank, Société Générale, which holds significant amounts in Greek and Italian debt, saw its shares drop by 21 percent before closing down 14.7 percent late on Wednesday. The […]


Asian stocks have rallied in early trading on Wednesday from their downward trend earlier in the week after the US Federal Reserve promised to keep interest rates near the zero level “at least through to mid-2013.”
 Europe’s stock markets also opened higher after overnight increases on Wall Street and Asian markets, which saw the Hong […]

China’s PPI increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year while the inflation rate rose 6.5 percent to a 37-month high in July. Inflation was driven by a14.8 percent spike in food costs, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. The data comes amid European sovereign debt concerns and worries of a ‘double-dip’ US recession, and […]

European stock markets plummeted further on Tuesday following a sharp rise in Chinese inflation, adding to woes over debt contagion across the eurozone and fears of another US recession. Market volatility reached its peak when Britain’s FTSE 100 index, which traded 20 percent below its February peak of 6091 points, plunged officially into bear territory […]

As European markets opened on Monday yields on Spanish and Italian bonds saw a sharp fall to 83 and 79 basis points respectively following an intervention by the European Central Bank. The ECB backed up its promise to expand its purchases of sovereign debt to support Madrid and Rome by entering into European bond markets […]

President Obama has announced that senior Republican and Democrat party members have agreed a proposal to limit US debt by $2.4bn in order to avoid deault or downgrading from the nation’s triple A rating. Making the announcement on Sunday, Obama said the agreement will cut spending by about $1trn over the next decade. Votes in […]

Swiss banking group Credit Suisse on Thursday announced a 2Q11 net earnings drop of 52 percent year-on-year to SFr768m amid weak trading activity and currency exchange effects of the Swiss franc. The group’s wealth management division reported a pre-tax profit of SFr843m, down four per cent from 2Q10 due to “challenging” market conditions, a statement […]

Swiss bank UBS said on Tuesday it plans major job cuts to reduce costs of up to $2.5bn over the next two to three years. The announcement came as it reported a 49 percent 2Q11 decrease in net profit to CHF1.01bn from CHF2bn during the same period in 2010. Group revenues were down 14 percent […]

Moody’s Investors Service on Monday cut Greece’s sovereign debt by three notches to Ca from Caa1, warning the second bailout of Greece is likely to result in a default and weaken the credit ratings of the stronger European nations. The rating agency warned in a statement that it is inevitable that Greece will be deemed […]

European heads of state at the emergency summit in Brussels agreed late on Thursday a new €109bn bailout package for Greece. The deal includes a reduced interest rate of 3.5 percent and a time extension to between 15 and 30 years from the previous 7.5 years. “The new programme is designed, notably through lower interest […]