BLOOMBERG Oil led commodities lower, pulling down the currencies of raw-material producing nations and helping lift government bonds. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated as crude slipped through $39 a barrel in New York in a fourth day of losses. Euro-area sovereign securities climbed as lower energy prices dimmed the outlook for inflation and the European Central ...

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.72% to close at 4425.32 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED 5.12 billion attaining AED 717.84 billion. A total of 217.7 Million Shares were traded with a total value of AED 320.86 million during the trading session of 29-03-2016 through 3663 transactions. The number of companies which ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG hired Jeffrey Cohen from Lazard Ltd. as the firm seeks to expand its retail and consumer products investment-banking business. Cohen, 52, is a vice chairman based in New York and reports to Jens Welter, global head of retail and consumer products, the Zurich-based firm said in a staff memo, a copy of which Bloomberg obtained ...

Dubai / Reuters Net foreign assets at Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank dropped 1.7 percent from the previous month to 2.19 trillion riyals ($584 billion) in February, central bank data showed on Tuesday. Assets fell 17.3 percent from a year earlier to their lowest level since May 2012. They reached a record high of $737 billion in August 2014 before starting ...

Bloomberg A changing of the guard on Bank of Korea’s (BOK’s) board will usher in four policy makers with links to the government, increasing speculation that the BOK may cut borrowing costs that are already at a record low. The nominees announced to replace members vacating their positions on April 20 have all worked directly in government or for state-funded ...

WASHINGTON \ AP More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February, with purchases surging in the Midwest ahead of the traditional spring buying season. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 3.5 percent to 109.1, rebounding from a 3 percent decline in January. The index has reached its highest level ...

ROME / BLOOMBERG There are plenty of castles for sale across Europe, but few provide the opportunity for prospective owners to play the role of a feudal lord. It’s the difference between living like a prince and living as a prince. Now a castle has come onto the market to let you do the latter. The Umbrian Castle di Sismano, ...

Bloomberg Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. received a higher $14 billion takeover offer from a group led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co., raising the stakes for Marriott International Inc. to counter a second time to salvage a merger that would create the world’s biggest hotel operator. The takeover battle pits a 12-year-old Chinese firm with aggressive ambitions to ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Indonesia is about to roll out its first passenger plane, one of several smaller, homegrown aircraft being studied in Asia, designed especially for short hops across the region’s emerging markets, where air travel is booming. State-owned aerospace firm PT Dirgantara Indonesia’s 19-seat N219, which cost $400 million and took just over five years to make, is scheduled ...

Bloomberg Shin Kyuk Ho, the 93-year-old founder of Korean-Japanese retail giant Lotte Group, has lost his board seat at the family-controlled conglomerate’s lodgings and duty-free sales unit Hotel Lotte Co. amid a leadership struggle between two of his sons. Shin’s term expired on March 28, Lotte Group said in a statement. He had been a board member since 1973, when ...