London Report: FTSE suffers its sharpest daily fall in a month April 7, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index had its biggest one-day decline in a month yesterday, retreating from a three-week high as a drop by housebuilders weighed on the market. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which rose 0.7 per cent on Friday to reach its highest point in around three weeks, closed down by 1.1 per cent, or [...]
Letters to the Editor – 08/04 – Stamp duty reform, Crowdfunding rules, Best of Twitter April 7, 2014 Stamp duty reform [Re: Why it’s time to focus on the real cost of the housing crisis, yesterday] The government should switch payment of stamp duty to when someone sells a property, not when they buy. First-time buyers could use the money towards a deposit, and those in the middle of a chain would not [...]
Russia faces off with Ukraine over gas prices April 7, 2014 TENSIONS between Ukraine and Russia escalated over the weekend, after talks over gas prices failed to reach a resolution. Russia nearly doubled the price Ukraine pays for its gas last week, using its supplies as a political pawn in the face of an ongoing dispute over the sovereignty of the Crimea region of Ukraine. Ukraine [...]
Lenta shares in push above the flotation price April 7, 2014 SHARES in the Russian hypermarket chain Lenta have risen above their issue price in London for the first time since they were issued at the end of February after the group’s stock market debut was clouded by political turmoil in Ukraine. Lenta’s share price rose above the $10 per GDR issue price to close at [...]
India votes: Just three hurdles stand in the way of economic renaissance April 6, 2014 IT’S A heretical truth, but most elections don’t matter very much. This year, for example, for all the bells and whistles, the Turkish presidential contest, the European parliamentary elections, and even the US mid-terms will change little, leaving unaltered their governments’ economic and political trajectories in the world. In the case of Turkey, the recent [...]
Letters to the Editor – 07/04 – The establishment, Best of Twitter April 6, 2014 The establishment [Re: It’s not just Clegg who’s lost contact with reality – it’s the whole establishment, Friday] Great article. This is the reason why the other leaders don’t want Nigel Farage in a pre-general election TV debate. They would all lose. They are completely disconnected from the real world, and think they know better [...]
Emerging markets come to a halt April 3, 2014 The HSBC emerging markets index hovered barely above the neutral 50 mark in March, at just 50.3, the fourth month in which firms in developing economies have reported slower growth in activity. Output fell marginally in China and India, according to the index, with a minor improvement for Brazil and the most severe drop for [...]
Russia’s heading for low growth warns central bank April 2, 2014 Russia’s central bank has warned today that economic growth in the country would “most probably” slide below one per cent this year, below the previously-forecast range of 1.5-1.8 per cent. It also raised concerns over the above-target inflation which limits its ability to cut interest rates. Central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina (pictured) said the bank’s [...]
Gazprom and the EU agree “mutually beneficial relations” April 2, 2014 The chief executive of Russian state-controlled gas producer Gazprom has agreed with the EU that they have a shared interest in maintaining “mutually beneficial relations”. The giant supplier announced in a statement that boss Alexei Miller met with Guenther Oettinger, European energy commissioner, and discussed a "wide range of issues of bilateral cooperations". The news [...]
Marks & Spencer plans to open 250 new shops overseas April 1, 2014 MARKS & Spencer (M&S) is gunning for a 40 per cent boost in profits from international stores and hundreds of new outlets abroad in just three years, as the firm lays out a major expansion plan. Announced in Paris yesterday, the fresh strategy will mean a huge jump in the number of M&S stores outside [...]