IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Cement cuts

Mexico's Cemex, the world's No 3 cement producer, plans to cut around 10 percent of its global staff, the company said on Wednesday, after recent major acquisitions and amid the US housing slowdown.

Cemex, which has operations in more than 50 countries, has around 68,900 employees on its payroll, according to data from the Mexican stock exchange.

Airport firm gains

GMR Infrastructure Ltd, the operator of New Delhi airport, rose in Mumbai trading after selling $1 billion of shares to investors including George Soros and Citigroup Inc to build roads and airports in India.

The shares climbed 3.4 percent to 251.45 rupees as of 10:53 am on the Mumbai stock exchange, the most in two weeks. The stock has more than tripled this year, compared with a 48 percent gain in the benchmark Sensitive Index.

DoCoMo rises

NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile-phone operator, climbed the most in a week in Tokyo trading after Mizuho Securities Co raised the rating on the company, citing an expected increase in earnings.

DoCoMo shares gained 1.7 percent to 180,000 yen as of 9:31 am on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the benchmark Topix index fell 1.1 percent. The brokerage raised the recommendation to "1", its highest rating, from "2", according to a report dated Wednesday.

Biogen loses $6b

Biogen Idec Inc, the maker of the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri, lost $6 billion in market value in extended trading on Wednesday after it said it plans to remain independent.

The developer of drugs for cancer and MS said that it will no longer pursue a sale and that its business plan is working. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company declined $20.38, or 27 percent, to $55.50 in extended trading.

Holiday sales drop

US retail sales dropped for the second straight week as consumers postponed holiday gift purchases during what may be the worst holiday shopping season in five years.

Sales fell 2.7 percent in the seven days through Saturday, following a 4.4 percent decline a week earlier, said Chicago-based research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp. About 12 percent fewer shoppers visited stores last week compared with the same period last year, ShopperTrak said.

House price pessimism

UK real-estate agents and surveyors became the most pessimistic about house prices since at least 1998 last month as a property-market decline spread to London, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.

An index of expected house prices fell to minus 47 in November, from minus 35.3 the previous month, London-based RICS said yesterday, citing a survey. The result was the lowest since the group first recorded the outlook for future property values in 1998.

Fund's new chief

Norway's central bank named Yngve Slyngstad as head of the country's 1.93 trillion-kroner ($360 billion) pension fund, the largest retirement plan in Europe.

Slyngstad will succeed Knut Kjaer as executive director of Norges Bank Investment Management at the start of 2008, Oslo-based Norges Bank said in a statement yesterday.

Major loan

Grupo Isolux Corsan SA, the largest privately held engineering and construction firm in Spain, is borrowing 700 million euros to build solar-powered generators, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA is arranging the transaction for Madrid-based Isolux and is seeking banks to underwrite the 19-year loan, said the person, who declined to be identified prior to a public announcement.

Agencies-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 12/14/2007 page16)