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HuaweiThe yen eased and riskier currencies like the Australian dollar rose on Monday after surprisingly strong Chinese factory activity data eased fears about a hard landing by the world’s second-biggest economy.
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Gold prices inched up on Monday in the first trading day of the second quarter, waiting for fresh cues from the currency market as investors digest data from China and the United States as well as developments in the euro zone.
Gold was trapped in a tight range around $1,660 an ounce on Friday, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers that may boost the bloc’s bailout power, and sluggish physical demand weighed on sentiment.
European stocks rose in early trade on Friday as bargain hunters jumped in following a sharp three-session drop, betting that euro zone finance ministers will agree to double the region’s bailout funds in a meeting later in the day.
London copper climbed on Friday, tracking strength in equity markets, and prices were headed for a more than 10 percent quarterly gain, although an early advance this year has been pinned back by sluggish demand growth in top consumer China.
PARIS - France beat its deficit-cutting target for 2011 and saw higher-than-expected consumer spending in February in a boost for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government three weeks from a presidential election.
France’s Total is laying plans including a helicopter water drop, fire-fighting vessels and spraying nitrogen to extinguish a flare on its Elgin North Sea gas platform that is leaking explosive clouds of gas, the UK energy department said.
BANGKOK — Asia’s major stock markets were mostly lower Friday as nervous investors turned their focus to China after digesting a report showing a slowdown in Japanese industrial production. European shares, though, headed higher.
LONDON - Iran is helping its ally Syria defy Western sanctions by providing a vessel to ship Syrian oil to a state-run company in China, potentially giving the government of President Bashar al-Assad a financial boost worth an estimated $80 million.
Leading Indonesian political parties said on Friday they will oppose a government plan to raise fuel prices unless oil prices climb further, dealing a blow to the ruling party’s efforts to control a swelling budget deficit in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.