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Swiss watch exports kick off 2018 with a bang

Bloomberg Swiss watch exports kicked off 2018 with the strongest growth in more than five years, buoyed by strong demand for high-end timepieces in Asia and a later Chinese New Year. Shipments rose 13 percent to 1.6 billion francs ($1.7 billion) in January, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said. That’s the biggest jump since October 2012 and the ...

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Jet fuel market strongest in years as frozen Asia needs heating

Bloomberg Asia’s icy winter just spawned Europe’s strongest jet fuel market in over three years. The fuel’s premium to diesel, the most-watched measure of market strength, jumped to $2.59 a barrel in Europe, the highest since December 2014. Freezing weather in Asia is drawing cargoes of kerosene, which is almost identical to jet fuel, from Middle East refineries that were ...

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Emirates NBD plans to submit bid for Sberbank unit in March

Bloomberg Emirates NBD PJSC is preparing to submit a bid for Sberbank PJSC’s wholly-owned Turkish unit in March, people with knowledge of the matter said. Dubai’s biggest bank is evaluating an offer for Denizbank AS, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. It could take several months before Sberbank decides whether or not to ...

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European stocks falter after Asia rally; oil rises, dollar advances

Bloomberg European shares failed to carry forward a rally from Japan and the US, where the S&P 500 index notched its best week in five years. Oil climbed while the dollar advanced against most major peers. The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped as auto and consumer stocks dropped. That contrasted with Asia, where equities built on their best week since ...

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Gulf sluggish as Waha cuts dividend; big bank boosts Egypt

Reuters Gulf stock markets were sluggish on Monday, with a dividend cut pulling down major Abu Dhabi-listed financial firm Waha Capital, but Egypt’s bourse rose on the back of a gain by its biggest bank. Equities in the Gulf rallied along with oil late last year and Saudi Arabia saw its largest-ever inflow of equity funds last month. But Brent ...

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US oil exports go up a gear as supertanker sets sail for China

Bloomberg The flood of US oil exports stepped up a gear on Monday after the first fully laden supertanker sailed from an American port, alleviating a bottleneck that’s limited overseas shipments. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, the only deep water port in the US able to handle the industry’s biggest tankers, said in a statement it had successfully ...

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Australian renewable giant Snowy Hydro mulls raising $1.6bn

Bloomberg Snowy Hydro Ltd., Australia’s largest hydropower producer, is considering raising as much as A$2 billion ($1.6 billion) by the end of 2018 for a project expansion, which will boost its 4,100 megawatt capacity by as much as 50 percent. The company, jointly owned by the federal government and the Victorian and New South Wales state governments, has begun talks ...

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Oil finds relief in weaker dollar as equities recover

Bloomberg Oil shook off some of the fears that had rattled the market to extend gains above $62 a barrel as the dollar weakened and global equities rebounded from a rout. Futures rose as much as 1.4 percent in New York after advancing 4.2 percent last week, propped up by a relief rally that helped US equities to their best ...

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Singapore property stocks show ‘fatigue’

Bloomberg A spate of enbloc sales, coupled with a rebound in the property market at the start of the year, may indicate that Singapore developers will be more cautious in adding to landbanks and about their pricing strategies, analysts say. Collective apartment sales in the first two months of 2018 totaled over $2.4 billion, almost twice the S$1.66 billion seen ...

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