Business

IN BRIEF (Page 10)

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-10 07:28

Stocks rally across globe

Stocks rallied worldwide and Greek bonds rose for the first time in two weeks on speculation Europe's most indebted nation will get an international bailout to avert a default. The euro strengthened and the yen weakened. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations' stocks rose 0.5 percent at 12:07 pm in London. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index increased 0.7 percent to a 20-month high. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.3 percent.

The premium investors demand to hold Greek two-year notes instead of benchmark German debt narrowed by 19 basis points. The euro strengthened against 11 of its 16 most-traded counterparts while the yen declined versus all of them. European Union officials are "ready to act" on financial assistance for Greece, European Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said in Brussels.

Reliance makes new gas find

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's biggest company by market value, discovered natural gas in four additional areas at its largest field, sources said.

The company has notified the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the industry regulator, that the areas in the KG-D6 field are commercially viable, the sources said, declining to be named as the details aren't public. Manoj Warrier, a spokesman for Reliance, declined to comment.

UK maintains slow growth

The UK economy kept up momentum in the first quarter with the same growth pace as the final three months of 2009 when the recession ended, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said.

Gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent, matching the rate of expansion in the fourth quarter and in the three months through February, said the London-based research group, whose clients include the Bank of England and the Treasury.

Indian auto sales up 25%

India's passenger car sales gained at the fastest pace in six years to a record as economic growth and introduction of new models such as Tata Motors Ltd's Nano and Fiat SpA's Grande Punto boosted demand.

Car sales rose 25 percent from a year earlier to 1.53 million, according to data released on Friday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers in New Delhi. Industrywide vehicle sales, including vans, SUVs and trucks, increased 28 percent to 2.48 million vehicles, the group said.

Morocco plans phosphate zone

Morocco will open a special zone for the phosphate industry and hopes to attract 50 billion dirhams ($6 billion) of investments, said Abdeltif Loudyi, the secretary-general of Morocco's Finance Ministry.

"We will establish a free investment center, a new city, in the place where many Moroccan phosphate mines are located," Loudyi said in an interview in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The area would be used for exporting raw phosphate and converting it to fertilizer and phosphoric acid, Loudyi said.

John Lewis sales surge by 33%

UK-based John Lewis Partnership Plc said sales rose 33 percent to 168 million pounds ($257 million) in the week to April 3 as shoppers bought more clothing and Easter-themed chocolate during the holiday period.

Sales at the company's eponymous department stores jumped 30 percent and revenue at its Waitrose supermarkets rose 34 percent, the company said. Online sales rose 57 percent last week. At Waitrose, sales of leg of lamb and Scottish salmon rose 30 percent and 400 percent.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 04/10/2010 page10)