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BEIJING / WAM A total of 362 deals worth valued at $26 billion have been signed at the fourth China-Arab States Expo, reported the People’s Daily. The expos was held in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, with Chinese President Xi Jinping relaying a congratulatory message during the opening ceremony of the event. According to People’s Daily, “Over 2,900 regional …

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco has picked a slew of banks to work on its planned initial public offering following intense lobbying by some of the world’s top dealmakers, people with knowledge of matter said. Aramco selected firms including Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley for top …

Bloomberg The man in charge of Norway’s trade policies is sanguine about the prospects of the country’s largest export destination potentially leaving the European Union without a deal. Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, Norway’s Trade and Industry Minister, is this week meeting with colleagues in London to discuss trade in the run-up to Brexit and sketch the framework for a permanent agreement …

Bloomberg The world will probably need more power from natural gas in the coming decades than previously thought because low electricity prices during the day could limit the rise in solar plants. The cleanest fossil fuel’s share of the primary energy mix in 2050 will be as much as 29%, according to a report by energy and maritime risk services …

Bloomberg US stock-index futures drifted, failing to pick up momentum from a broad advance in equities in Europe and Asia after more signs emerged that China will move to lessen the trade war’s repercussions. Oil futures rose with the dollar. Gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index came in part from the strong rotation into cyclical sectors that had lagged …

Bloomberg Indian stocks rose as investors anticipated more government steps to revive consumer sentiment ahead of the festival season that accounts for a bulk of the nation’s sales. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.3 percent to 37,270.82 at the close in Mumbai, advancing for a third consecutive session. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also climbed 0.3 percent. The nation’s financial …

Bloomberg Switzerland said Facebook Inc’s planned Libra cryptocurrency would need an official green light, with granting of a license contingent on the risks of reserve management being borne by the organisation and not by stable-coin holders. Swiss financial regulator Finma said the project would need a payment system license and would be subject to additional rules to take “bank-like” risks …

Bloomberg Nordea Bank Abp’s activist investor Cevian Capital wants management to conduct an in-depth review of its wholesale banking activities after years of underperformance. Christer Gardell, managing partner at Stockholm-based Cevian, said that “it’s obvious that the segment is not performing,” in emailed comments to Bloomberg. That’s why Cevian thinks Nordea needs to do “a thorough review of the size …

Bloomberg The Indian lender that’s been most hurt by a yearlong shadow banking crisis in the nation is getting a reprieve after a local media report that it’s in early talks to sell a stake to an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd-backed company. Shares of Yes Bank jumped as much as 8.5 percent on Wednesday. While the lender is the worst …

Bloomberg The Bank of Ghana is strengthening its capacity to regulate lenders and avoid a repeat of a sector cleanup which cost the West African nation more than 14 billion cedis ($2.5 billion). The central bank’s supervision unit is employing more staff and acquired a new IT system to monitor compliance, Osei Gyasi, head of the division, told a conference …