IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Barratt extends slide

Barratt Developments Plc led UK homebuilders lower in London trading after Merrill Lynch & Co became the latest bank to downgrade ratings on concern falling house prices will lead to writedowns.

Barratt, the United Kingdom's second-largest homebuilder by volume, dropped as much as 28 percent to 66 pence as of 10:38 am local time, bringing its year-to-date plunge to 84 percent. Taylor Wimpey, the No 1, slid 21 percent to 51.5 pence, the steepest drop since at least September 1988.

Mortgage applications up

Mortgage applications in the United States last week rose from their lowest level in six years, led by a gain in purchase applications that may indicate the drop in property values is starting to draw buyers.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a loan rose 10.9 percent to 557.1 from 502.3 the prior week. The group's purchase index increased 12.8 percent and its refinancing gauge gained 8.4 percent.

Petrobras' plans

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-owned oil company, said it may become the world's third-biggest oil refiner with a plan to build two new plants.

The two refineries in Rio Grande do Norte and Ceara states, along with plants that are either under construction or being planned, will boost Petrobras' refining capacity by at least 1 million barrels a day by 2014, the company said in a statement on its Web site. This would put it in third place behind Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, it said.

Price rises

Japan's wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in 27 years, signaling soaring energy costs may erode corporate profits and bring an end to the economy's longest postwar expansion.

Producer-price inflation accelerated to 4.7 percent in May from 3.9 percent in April, the Bank of Japan said in Tokyo yesterday. The current-account surplus shrank 30 percent in April as record oil costs added to the nation's import bill.

Market slides

Vietnam's benchmark stock index fell for a 25th day after the central bank raised interest rates to the highest in Asia to cool inflation. The dong had the biggest drop in almost a decade after the bank cut the reference rate.

The VN Index, a measure of 151 companies on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, fell 1.3 percent to 368.06 as of 9:37 am local time, extending its longest-losing streak on record. The dong weakened to 16,613 per dollar, the biggest drop since Aug 11, 1998, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Indian rate increase

India's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in 15 months as costlier fuel prices threaten to stoke inflation to a 13-year high.

The Reserve Bank of India increased the repurchase rate to 8 percent from 7.75 percent, according to a statement in Mumbai. The move came almost two months ahead of its next scheduled monetary policy meeting on July 29.

Housing purchase

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy about 93,000 apartments from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for 787 million euros in cash to take advantage of rising rents.

The transaction, valued at about 3.4 billion euros including debt, will be carried out by Goldman's Whitehall real- estate funds, State Finance Minister Helmut Linssen said.

Draka drops

Draka Holding NV, Europe's third-largest cable maker, fell the most in four months in Amsterdam trading after forecasting first-half profit that missed some analysts' estimates.

Draka dropped as much as 1.54 euros, or 6.6 percent, to 21.67 euros, the steepest decline since Feb 5.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/12/2008 page17)