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DUBAI / Reuters Qatar’s stock index edged up on Wednesday as foreign ministers of four Arab states prepared to meet to consider sanctions against Doha. A deadline for Qatar to comply with a list of demands made by the states expired overnight. Doha has submitted replies to mediator Kuwait that have not been disclosed. Doha has shown no sign of ...

Bloomberg It’s not just emerging-market stocks that have shed their umbi- lical link to oil and commodities. Bonds and currencies are also breaking free. Stocks in the developing world posted the best start to a year since 2009 even as oil capped its worst first half in 19 years. That’s partly because the weight of energy companies in the benchmark ...

Bloomberg Asian equities gained even as concerns over potential international fall out from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program faded. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 153.97 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, reversing an earlier drop of the same magnitude. Technology stocks were among the biggest boosts to the gauge after being beaten down on ...

Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has narrowed the list of bidders for its wealth unit, which could fetch more than A$4 billion ($3 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said. The Melbourne-based bank has invited AIA Group Ltd., MetLife Inc. and Zurich Insurance Group AG to make second-round offers for the business by Sept. 15, according ...

Bloomberg Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA laid out a five-year restructuring plan that includes cutting thousands of jobs and selling assets as part of an agreement with the European Union that lets the bank receive 5.4 billion euros ($6.1 billion) in state aid. The lender plans to reduce headcount by 5,500, close 600 branches and dispose ...

Bloomberg China’s banks are weaning themselves off short-term debt — with a little help from the authorities. The amount of negotiable certificates of deposit outstanding is likely to drop by the end of this quarter, according to 15 of 26 traders and analysts polled by Bloomberg last month. That would be the first quarterly decline since the instruments were introduced ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG is consolidating its wealth management business in Europe and emerging markets to streamline operations, expanding the role of top executives in much of the region. Cross-border operations will be combined with domestic businesses in a set-up that will reduce the number of offshore booking centers from about 10 to three — Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. ...

Bloomberg Ten years since the Bank of England (BOE) last raised interest rates, policy makers are warning Britons to prepare for the next one. “Our foot is pretty much on the floor with the accelerator,” Michael Saunders, a member of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, told The Guardian in an interview published late on Tuesday. “Households should prepare for interest ...

Bloomberg Italians may be about to experience something they haven’t felt in some time: confidence in their country’s financial system. European Union officials capped years of turmoil in Italy’s banking industry by approving a plan to salvage Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, a onetime pillar of the financial establishment brought to the edge of ruin by bad loans ...

Bloomberg / WAM Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, said measures barring laptops from the cabins of aircraft departing its Dubai base for the US have been lifted. The moratorium, imposed in March, was removed on Wednesday following work with local authorities and regulators on implementing the ‘heightened security measures and protocols’ required by the US Department of Homeland Security ...