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  Reuters Commerzbank has told customers in the Gulf it will no longer process their transactions in euros, four Gulf banking sources say, joining other big banks that cut such services after being fined for dealings with Iran. Major US and European peers have been tightening risk controls in the region after US regulators imposed billions of dollars of penalties ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran’s currency plumbed new lows against the dollar on Sunday, continuing a six-month decline that has seen the rial lose some 19 percent of its value despite the lifting of sanctions. The rial was trading at 41,300 to the dollar, down from 34,600 in June — widening the gap with the official government rate which remains ...

  Bloomberg China’s roaring bond engine is stalling heading into the New Year, posing a quandary for policy makers as they try to curb leverage while keeping economic growth on track. Bond issuance in December by Chinese companies and banks is 80 billion yuan ($11.5 billion) less than the amount of notes they must repay this month, data combined by ...

  Bloomberg In the dying breaths of the year, the commodity price plunge claimed its latest victims as three energy companies outlined bankruptcy filing plans. Forbes Energy Services Ltd., Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. and Memorial Production Partners LP will use the US courts to restructure their borrowings, each said in regulatory filings. Bonanza and Memorial will give current shareholders some ...

  Cairo / AFP Egypt targets a five percent economic growth rate in the year to June 2018, the finance ministry said on Sunday as the government seeks to revive an economy. Egyptian authorities have battled high unemployment, inflation and a collapse in tourism income since the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed ...

  Bloomberg The Riyadh-based newspaper al-Eqtisadiah retracted a story saying Saudi Arabia is planning to sell almost half of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest oil company known as Aramco. The stake that the government plans to sell and the time frame of the sale are different than what was mentioned in the story published on Saturday, al-Eqtisadiah said ...

  Bloomberg Algeria’s state energy producer Sonatrach Group plans to increase output of natural gas and crude oil by 20 percent in the next four years as new projects start up, Salah Mekmouche, the company’s vice president of exploration and production, said. Sonatrach will bring on stream Tiguentourine, In Salah and Timimoune natural gas projects as well as oil wells ...

  Bloomberg Rosneft’s plans for next year allow it to be flexible with production volumes, Russia’s top oil producer said, after Moscow clinched a deal with OPEC to cut production to bolster weak oil prices. State-controlled Rosneft, which accounts for over 40 percent of Russian oil production, said its board has looked into plans for 2017-2018. “The plan is formed ...

  Bloomberg A patch of land in the shadow of Mount Fuji is becoming a testing ground for energy storage, with some of Japan’s leading companies trying to develop technologies such as spinning flywheels and fuel cells. The government of Yamanashi, a prefecture 102 kilometers (63 miles) west of Tokyo, is hoping that by attracting companies such as Panasonic Corp. ...

  Bloomberg In China’s auto market, carmakers are employing a strategy that’s long been eschewed by the rest of the world: if a new model is helping you win, introduce a twin. Take Honda Motor Co., whose namesake brand has been the fastest growing in China’s mass market this year. With its sales gaining on demand for Vezel and XR-V ...