Stocks

  SARAJEVO / Reuters Bosnia’s Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE) and Gulf-owned Bosna Bank International (BBI) launched the Balkans’ first index of listed firms compliant with Islamic investment principles on Monday in a bid to attract more investors in local equities. The index has 25 constituents: companies with the highest market capitalisation and revenues, including the country’s second-largest telecoms firm BH ...

  London / AFP European stock markets held firm on Monday as traders digested last week’s volatile performance and eyed rising eurozone investor sentiment, dealers said. London added 0.2 percent in value, as investors paused for breath after sterling’s Brexit-fuelled “flash crash” to 31-year dollar lows late last week. The weak pound lifts exporters. Frankfurt won 0.6 percent despite ongoing ...

Bloomberg U.S. stock market investors have put Dec. 14 firmly in their crosshairs. Amid a range of reports showing the U.S. economy can withstand an interest-rate increase, investors are punishing industries likely to suffer with tighter monetary policy and shifting cash into groups that benefit from higher borrowing costs and economic growth. The S&P 500 Index tumbled 0.7 percent to ...

  London / AFP Oil prices in New York rose above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since June, helping provide some support for broader markets ahead of key US jobs data. Near 1330 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November was trading up 37 cents at $50.20 a barrel, while the London benchmark ...

  Tokyo / AFP Tokyo shares closed higher for a fourth straight session Thursday as a weaker yen boosted exporters while Fujitsu soared on reports it is considering merging its money-losing PC unit with China’s Lenovo. The dollar rallied as investors viewed strong US data on the key services sector as more evidence the world’s top economy is back on ...

London / AFP European stock markets retreated on Wednesday on speculation that the ECB is mulling plans to taper its vast economic stimulus that aims to prop up the eurozone economy. The European Central Bank has rebutted a Bloomberg report on Tuesday of an “informal consensus” among ECB policymakers that the guardian of the euro should gradually scale back its ...

  Bloomberg U.S. stocks rose as a rally in crude oil boosted energy producers, overshadowing concerns that central banks could begin to tighten monetary policy. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,157.02 at 9:33 a.m. in New York, after two days of losses following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials. Equity markets have seen a revival of volatility ...

  London / AFP The pound slumped to a 31-year low against the dollar on Tuesday on concerns over the timing and terms of Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, traders said. Britain’s currency also struck a fresh three-year low point against the euro, while the drops helped pushed London’s benchmark FTSE 100 stocks index up to a 16-month ...

  London / AFP The British pound slumped to a three-year low against the euro on Monday in reaction to news that Britain would begin Brexit negotiations by March. However better-than-expected British manufacturing data, ironically thanks to recent strong falls for the pound, helped London’s benchmark FTSE 100 stocks index to jump by 1.2 percent in morning trade. Sterling dropped ...

  Dubai / Reuters Egypt’s stock market rose sharply in early trade on Monday on hopes that an international financing package for the country would be finalised soon after this week’s annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group. The Egyptian stock index climbed 2.8 percent in a broad rally, with investment bank EFG Hermes rising 4.2 ...