IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Home sales drop

Sales of new single-family homes plummeted a record 26 percent in 2007 and builders slashed prices by the most since 1970 in a struggle to cope with a housing bust, a US government report showed on Monday (local time).

Sales in December fell 4.7 percent to an annual rate of 604,000 - the slowest pace since 1995 - from a downwardly revised rate of 634,000 in November, the Commerce Department said.

Bank boosted

Shares in top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank rose more than 2 percent after a local newspaper reported it was buying up to half of mid-size Kazakh bank CenterCredit, for 1 trillion won ($1 billion).

Kookmin did not confirm the report, saying it was looking at the Central Asian state for expansion through stake purchases in banks or other options. CenterCredit declined to comment.

Lawsuit settled

Student-lending company Sallie Mae said on Monday (local time) it settled a lawsuit over its failed buyout by a group led by private equity firm JC Flowers and had received $31 billion in new financing.

Sallie Mae, formally known as SLM Corp, dropped its lawsuit and its efforts to seek a $900 million breakup fee from the buyout group in order to gain the funding to replace $30 billion in interim financing that was due on Feb 15.

Trucker's loss

YRC Worldwide Inc, the biggest trucking company in the United States, posted a quarterly loss on Monday (local time) due to hefty one-time charges and said the weak US economy was unlikely to improve in the near term, sending its shares down 13 percent.

YRC posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $735.8 million, or $12.99 per share, compared with a profit of $46.5 million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.

Halliburton hike

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co said on Monday (local time) that quarterly net profit rose 5 percent on strength in its Eastern Hemisphere business and a lower tax rate.

A push to expand business in regions such as the Middle East and Asia helped offset weakness in North America, where oilfield services companies have suffered from a slowdown in drilling in Canada and falling prices in the United States in pressure pumping.

Steel mill backed

The Vietnamese government has approved a plan by South Korean group POSCO, the world's third-largest steelmaker, to build a $4.5 billion steel mill with a local partner, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Thanh Nien quoted the office of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as saying he had approved the plan to build the mill in the central province of Khanh Hoa in principle.

Oil rises

Crude oil rose for a fourth day on speculation the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to spur economic growth in the world's largest energy user and as OPEC prepares to keep output on hold.

Crude oil for March delivery rose as much as 71 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $91.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $91.45 at 11:56 am in London.

Unit for sale

General Electric Co plans to sell some or all of the Indian arm of its consumer finance company, GE Money, the Economic Times said yesterday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the transaction.

"GE Money remains committed to India as a market for growth and investment. Driving strategic partnerships and JVs are a key strategic pillar of growth for GE Money, and in line with this objective we will be seeking a strategic partner," a GE Money spokesperson told the paper.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/30/2008 page16)