FTSE sees biggest fall since November over Greek drama March 6, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index ploughed down through support levels yesterday as slowing global growth and Greece’s dithering over its debt swap plan intensified pressure on riskier assets, prompting a flight to safety and sparking fears of a deeper sell-off. London’s blue chip index, which is heavily weighted towards riskier banking and commodity stocks, posted its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 5, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES REGULATORS CONSIDER AN OVERHAUL OF LIBOR UK regulators and global banks are discussing a potentially far-reaching overhaul of the calculation and regulation of interbank lending rates, amid claims that the benchmark for $350 trillion contracts worldwide may have been subject to manipulation. STARBUCKS TAKES COFFEE WARS TO NESPRESSO Coffee capsule wars are set [...]
Russia criticised over vote March 5, 2012 RUSSIAN police arrested hundreds of protesters yesterday as Vladimir Putin faced questions over the legitimacy of his election as president. Putin was criticised by international election observers a day after claiming victory on 64 per cent of the vote. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) raised serious questions about the election’s validity [...]
Nordgold is first client to join Jefferies Hoare Govett March 5, 2012 NORDGOLD, the gold producing company spun off by the Russian group Severstal, yesterday appointed Jefferies Hoare Govett as its corporate broker and financial adviser, the first broking win for the newly-merged firm. Peter Bacchus, global head of metals and mining investment banking, said that Nordgold, which is currently valued at about £2bn, “is a fantastic [...]
Putin triumphs in Russia vote March 4, 2012 But elections are marred by claims of widespread fraud VLADIMIR Putin laid claim to a dramatic victory in Russia’s presidential elections last night despite allegations of vote rigging by his opponents. With counting mostly complete, Putin was on course to claim between 58 per cent and 65 per cent of the vote last night and [...]
Taxing homes more isn’t the answer March 4, 2012 HERE is my factoid of the day: Italians have just replaced Russians as the top foreign buyers of prime central London properties, ending years of oligarch dominance, according to Knight Frank. The only reason the Greeks aren’t ranked higher is that there are too few of them. Analysts interested in predicting financial crises and unrest [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 4, 2012 Grosvenor Group Michael McLintock has been appointed as a non-executive director of the privately-owned international property group, effective immediately. Chief executive of M&G since 1997, five years after joining the investment firm, McLintock oversaw the sale of M&G to Prudential in 1999 and joined the latter’s board the following year. Already a trustee of the [...]
£33m: Blues count cost as AVB gets the bullet March 4, 2012 Villas-Boas becomes sixth Chelsea manager to be axed in Abramovich era, after eight months CHELSEA finally lost patience with manager Andre Villas-Boas yesterday, bring to an end an eight-month tenure that cost the club around £33m. Villas-Boas was sacked hours after Saturday’s defeat at West Brom delivered another blow to their hopes of returning to [...]
Indian manufacturing keeps booming as Chinese factories start to stabilise March 1, 2012 INDIAN manufacturing output growth slowed slightly in February, but remained above its long-term trend rates according to data published yesterday by Markit. Figures also showed recent declines in China’s manufacturing output slowed, indicating a brighter future for the economy. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) figures came in at 56.6 in India, down from January’s eight-month [...]
Chevron in move to tap into Russia’s Arctic oil March 1, 2012 US oil major Chevron has held talks with a Russian government official in a bid to exploit some of the country’s Arctic oil reserves. The reserves are currently off limits for non-state corporations, but Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources said the situation is under review. The statement came a day after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir [...]