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MOSCOW / Bloomberg Neither a recession nor a collapse in revenue has yet been enough to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that it’s time to join with OPEC in cutting oil output to boost prices. His reasons may be pragmatic rather than political. As Russia’s oil minister meets his Saudi Arabian counterpart in Doha on Tuesday, the world’s second-largest crude ...

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.92% to close at 4161.49 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED6.16 Billion attaining AED675.05 Billion. A total of 0.64 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of 0.75 Billion AED during the trading session of 16-02-2016 through 8512 transactions. The number of companies which has been ...

Hong Kong/ AFP Asian markets extended their rally on Tuesday as hopes were raised that major oil exporters Russia and Saudi Arabia could agree action to ease a global supply glut, and authorities will step in to boost growth in major economies. Gains on European markets also gave investors confidence to buy again as Shanghai surged more than three percent ...

Taipei/ AFP The new year has brought Taiwan no respite from its economic woes as exports fell in January for the 12th successive month, the longest continuous decline for almost seven years. The island slid into recession in the last quarter of 2015, posting its slowest annual growth since 2009, as China’s economic slowdown and weaker international demand took their ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept its key rate unchanged Tuesday for an eighth consecutive month as it waits for a clearer picture of first-quarter data and assesses the impact of unstable markets. The decision to keep the seven-day repurchase rate at a record low 1.5 percent was forecast by all 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey. South Korea’s ...

Bloomberg For years, the country’s central bank and financial supervisor have railed against lenders’ dependence on markets — rather than deposits — because of the risk that investors might flee, leaving banks in a lurch. Now, Sweden is finding the markets may be a better funding source than savers as central bank rates go deeper into negative territory. Market funding ...

Bloomberg China’s cabinet has discussed lowering the ratio of provisions banks must set aside for bad loans, potentially easing a drag on earnings after soured debts at lenders climbed to the highest in a decade. The China Banking Regulatory Commission would be responsible for deciding the timing and magnitude of any reduction, said people with knowledge of the matter, who ...

Bloomberg Rainer Neske, the former head of consumer banking at Deutsche Bank AG, is poised to become the next chief executive officer of state-owned regional lender Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, according to people with knowledge of the matter. LBBW’s supervisory board will meet on Tuesday to decide whether to approve the 51-year-old as successor to Hans-Joerg Vetter, 63, according to the people, ...

Bloomberg United Overseas Bank (UOB) Ltd.’s fourth-quarter profit barely rose as swelling expenses and provisions for bad loans capped gains in income. Net income gained 0.3 percent to S$788 million ($564 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, Singapore’s third-biggest bank said Tuesday in an exchange statement. That matched the average estimate of seven analysts ...

Bloomberg China’s bank lending surged to a record 2.51 trillion yuan ($385 billion) in January, official figures showed Tuesday, as credit gushed to help boost the flagging economy. New loans extended by banks beat market expectations of 1.9 trillion yuan, according to a median forecast compiled by Bloomberg News, and far exceeded the 597.8 billion yuan in December. But analysts ...