IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Gold down

Gold dropped yesterday as

the dollar bounced back against the euro, with investors cautious ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting, which may give direction to precious metals and currencies.

Spot gold eased to $707.90/708.70 an ounce from

$711.40/712.00 late in New York on Wednesday, within sight of a 16-month high of $714.20 struck on Tuesday.

Recovery to 'take months'

It will take months for financial markets to return to normal conditions, not weeks, European Central Bank governing council member Erkki Liikanen said yesterday.

"The faster the transparency increases on the market, the faster markets will normalize... it's not a question of weeks, more a question of months," Liikanen said.

Bid backed

Australian retailer Coles Group Ltd said an independent expert examining an A$18 billion ($15 billion) bid by Wesfarmers Ltd concluded the offer was in shareholders' best interests, even though it was below fair value.

The country's No 2 supermarket chain - whose board unanimously recommends the Wesfarmers offer - said Grant Samuel & Associates noted that continued ownership uncertainty was likely to be damaging for Coles, particularly the struggling supermarkets business.

Tiscali posts profit

Tiscali SpA, Europe's third-largest Internet provider, posted a profit in the first half on higher broadband revenue and one-time gains from selling units. It raised this year's sales forecast.

Net income was 22.4 million euros ($31.1 million), compared with a net loss of 74.2 million euros a year earlier, the company, based in Cagliari, Italy, said yesterday.

Agencies-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 09/14/2007 page16)