London / AFP The British pound rallied briefly on Thursday on brighter-than-expected economic growth data, while European stock markets sagged amid a dearth of eurozone news. Sterling bounced after official data showed that Britain’s economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.5 percent in the three months following the country’s refere- ndum in favour of exiting the European Union. The currency …

DUBAI / Reuters Banking shares that had been beaten down earlier this month by fears of slowing global economic growth headed for a seventh day of gains on Thursday, boosting Gulf stock markets despite weakness in Asian bourses and oil prices. The Saudi bank sector has been strong since last week’s big international bond sale by the government partially eased …

  New York / AFP US stocks were flat early on Thursday despite mostly solid earnings reports, including from Tesla Motors and Twitter, as well as Qualcomm’s $47 billion takeover of Dutch rival NXP Semiconductors. Tesla jumped 5.4 percent after it announced a surprise third quarter profit of $22 million as it touted new product launches and store openings. Twitter …