Islamabad / Bloomberg Pakistan’s central bank unexpectedly lowered its benchmark interest rate for the first time since September to boost economic growth before the government presents its budget for the new financial year. The State Bank of Pakistan cut the target policy rate to 5.75 percent from 6 percent, it said Saturday in an e-mailed statement in Karachi. All ...

  Colombo / Bloomberg Sri Lanka left its benchmark rates unchanged for a third straight month after it agreed a $1.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to help improve public finances. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka kept the standing lending facility rate at 8 percent and the standing deposit facility rate at 6.5 percent, it said in ...

Singapore / Bloomberg HSBC’s weight-loss drive in India could leave the country’s banking system feeling a little breathless. But the health benefits will eventually show up. The UK-based lender will close half its branches in the country, which last year accounted for 3.2 percent of the group’s pre-tax profit. Assuming that the bank’s strategy of serving more of its Indian ...

  Japan / AFP British finance minister George Osborne warned on Saturday that the UK would find it “extremely difficult” to conclude trade deals with EU countries if it quit the bloc. Speaking to the BBC at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Sendai, Japan, Osborne said it would be tough to strike those deals while also trying to ...

  Bloomberg The pound may have rallied amid evidence U.K. public opinion is shifting away from a Brexit, but one fund manager isn’t taking any chances. Investec Wealth & Investment Ltd. has increased its holdings of non-sterling government bonds to protect against a slide in the U.K. currency should citizens vote to quit the European Union on June 23. The ...

  BLOOMBERG Workers at three Total SA refineries in France voted to halt the plants amid discontent over the government’s handling of a proposed labour law. Workers at the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy, Feyzin near Lyon and at Donges, close to Nantes, voted to shut down the facilities, according to Total union members from the Confederation Generale du Travail and ...

  Finland / AFP Mobile phone giant Nokia is to cut more than 1,000 jobs in Finland, the company announced on Friday, as part of cost-cutting measures following its merger with Alcatel-Lucent. Once the world’s top mobile phone maker, Finland’s Nokia has been crushed by Samsung and Apple in the smartphone and tablet market in recent years, but earlier this ...

  Canberra / Bloomberg German government bonds are stuck in their tightest trading range in more than a year as European Central Bank policy makers maintain a wait-and-see attitude toward inflation and their monetary-stimuluspolicy. Benchmark 10-year bund yields this month have moved within a range of just 19 basis points, or 0.19 percentage point, compared with an average 26 basis points ...

  Bloomberg Now that Bayer AG’s bid for seed giant Monsanto Co. is out of the bag, attention has turned to how much the German company will need to pay. The value of the transaction could top $63 billion, according to some analysts tracking the situation. So far, neither side has disclosed the terms or structure of the deal. That’s ...

  Bloomberg Wall Street is pushing back against the Federal Reserve’s tougher tone on raising interest rates, as strategists see the bond market warning of potential consequences. Treasuries staged their biggest weekly decline since November after minutes from the Fed’s April meeting rekindled wagers that policy makers will raise rates as soon as next month. The dollar soared and bond-market ...