Bloomberg The European Union (EU) and India are set to resume long-stalled talks on a free trade deal in an effort to strengthen their economic cooperation in the face of an increasingly assertive China. EU leaders will hold a virtual summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a fresh round of negotiations that aim to reboot relations and …

JEDDAH / WAM Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have underscored the importance of expanding and intensifying aspects of bilateral cooperation and coordination and enhancing them in various fields. This came during a meeting between His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, …

Bloomberg Oil posted a gain this week as expectations for growing economic activity in nations from the US to Europe fueled optimism around stronger summer demand. Futures in New York advanced 2.1% this week in the first back-to-back weekly increase since early March. Fuel sales in the UK rise to the highest since the pandemic again, and in the US, …

Bloomberg Global central banks are starting to wind down the trillion-dollar money printing machines set in motion to rescue their economies in 2020. Getting ahead of them is becoming this year’s biggest currency trade. Early changes to bond-buying programs from Canada and Britain have been rewarding for foreign-exchange players. Meanwhile, Norway, which hasn’t needed to deploy more unconventional policy such …

Bloomberg Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) plans to raise as much as $17 billion in bonds after India’s largest mortgage financier posted a better-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit. The Mumbai-based shadow lender’s fourth-quarter net income rises 43% to 31.8 billion rupees ($432 million) as it set aside fewer provisions for bad loans, it said in a statement. That beat an …

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA’s profits jumped in the first quarter, as the bank joined European peers in posting a strong trading performance and lower-than-anticipated charges to cover potential loan losses. Net income rises 64% from a year ago to 1.05 billion euros ($1.27 billion), after Credit Agricole provided 384 million euros against the possibility of souring loans, below the 564.5 …

Bloomberg India approved a plan to privatise IDBI Bank Ltd. as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sells assets to narrow its budget gap. The government plans to sell all or part of its 45.5% stake in the lender, as well a state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India’s 49.2% ownership, according to a government statement. The sale envisages ceding …

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc’s global chief economist, Catherine Mann, is leaving the bank after three years in the job. Mann, a prominent economist who joined the New York-based company in February 2018 from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said by email that she has resigned from Citigroup, without elaborating. Gabriel Morales, a spokesman for Citigroup, confirmed her resignation. Mann …

Bloomberg Foreign demand for a slice of Taiwan’s increasingly profitable companies is threatening to upend the central bank’s decades-old currency management policy. Central bank board member Chang Chien-yi told Bloomberg in a rare interview that the institution won’t be able to fight currency appreciation if the Taiwan dollar rises on economic fundamentals as the competitiveness of local industries improves. “The …

Bloomberg Samantha Proyrungtong, co-owner of an artisan food shop in downtown Bangkok, keeps three phones and a laptop glued to Facebook and Softbank Group-backed Line Corp.’s social-media app throughout the workday. She needs them not to hear from friends and relatives but to get orders from customers since her shop, Vivin Grocery, relies on chat applications for a big part …