March, 2019

• 20 March

  Mubadala, Tencent mull bids for $3 billion Watson stake

  

  Bloomberg Mubadala Development Co, the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, and Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd are weighing bids for part of Temasek Holdings Pte’s stake in global retailer AS Watson Group, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Singapore state investment company is considering selling around a 10 percent stake in AS Watson for about $3 billion, according …

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• 20 March

  Google fined $1.7bn by EU in antitrust case

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google was fined 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) by the European Union (EU) for thwarting advertising rivals, a penalty that may be EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vest-ager’s third and final attack on US tech giant. It brings the total Google has been ordered to pay to 8.2 billion euros in EU antitrust probes that have run for …

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• 20 March

  US stocks recover as Fed signals no 2019 rate hikes

  

  Bloomberg US equities erased earlier losses after the Federal Reserve signalled that it won’t raise rates this year, saying economic growth has slowed. Ten-year Treasury yields narrowed and the dollar fell. As was widely expected, the central bank didn’t announce an interest-rate increase on Wednesday and took any hike off the table for 2019. That dovish turn was enough to …

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• 20 March

  Mixed day for India equities as indexes halt rally

  

  Bloomberg Indian equities closed mixed with traders cautious ahead of a public holiday and a US interest rate decision. Key stock indexes had gained in the previous seven days to more than six-month highs. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex swung at least twelve times between losses and gains before ending the day up 0.1 percent at 38,386.75 in Mumbai. The …

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• 20 March

  UAE happiest nation in Arab world for 5th year in a row

  

  NEW YORK / WAM The UAE was ranked first in the Arab region in the World Happiness Report (WHR) for the fifth consecutive year. According to a statement issued by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), which produces the World Happiness Report, “In 2016, the United Arab Emirates committed to implementing a happiness and wellbeing policy agenda within …

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• 20 March

  Oil rally stalls near $59 as US-China trade jitters return

  

  Bloomberg Oil’s rally stuttered as uncertainty over the status of trade negotiations between the US and China stoked concerns over global economic growth. Futures for May fell as much as 1.2 percent in New York. China was said to be pushing back against American demands, raising speculation that trade tensions between the world’s biggest economies will persist. Still, the price …

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• 20 March

  Merkel seeks distance from German bank merger

  

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it’s up to Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG executives to decide if their historic merger plans make sense, exposing divisions in the coalition. The plan to combine Germany’s two biggest lenders is a private business matter, Merkel said at the Global Solutions summit in Berlin, after the lenders announced talks on a deal …

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• 20 March

  Pakistan central bank to stay cautious on inflation

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s central bank sees inflation behaving well in the next financial year beginning July, but will stand ready to use monetary policy tools after the most aggressive interest rate tightening in Asia last year, its governor said. Consumer price growth will be anchored by low food inflation, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa said in an interview. While …

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• 20 March

  Oil wealth set to fuel second Norway interest rate hike

  

  Bloomberg Norway’s central bank is leaving its closest peers behind. Policy makers in Scandinavia’s richest economy are this week expected to raise interest rates to their highest level in almost four years. The step will mark a second hike since September, helping to cap inflation in western Europe’s biggest oil exporter. Backed by oil income that pumps massive amounts of …

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• 20 March

  Thailand holds rate as election risks mount

  Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, providing policy stability to investors days before the nation’s first election since a military coup five years ago. The Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to hold its policy rate at 1.75 percent, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement on Wednesday, in line with …

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