Forex / Economy news

AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Dutch retail sales increased by 1.9 pct compared with the same period a year earlier, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) said.The increase is largely due to price increases, as the sales volume was comparable to that of May of last year, the CBS said...

MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves were at 408.4 bln usd on July 6, up from 406.0 bln usd on June 29, Interfax reported, citing a Central Bank statement.alfred.kueppers@thomson.comamk/lam..

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - Austria's exports in 2007 are likely to rise around 9 pct year-on-year despite the challenges posed by a stronger Euro, according to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo).The Austrian daily Der Standard cited WIFO researcher Franz Hahn as saying that the impact of the rising Euro on Austria's exports will be comparatively limited as the country's dollar-related exports are dwarfed by those to the Euro-zone...

SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Korea on Thursday raised its benchmark call rate target by 25 basis points to a six-year high of 4.75 percent, the first increase in nearly a year, in a bid to mop up excess liquidity which it fears could feed on inflation...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Japan has left its economic assessment unchanged in July, saying the world's second-largest economy is expanding moderately and will continue to do so as deflationary pressures ease."Japan's economy is expanding moderately," the BoJ said in its latest monthly report, repeating what it said in June...

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck sees Germany's economy weathering the current strength of the euro without suffering fundamental problems, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung."The competitiveness of European economies is not determined on foreign exchange markets," Steinbrueck told the newspaper...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Japan kept its overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.5 percent for the sixth straight meeting, but a stray vote by a member of the nine-man board suggested a rate hike may be imminent.The central bank said Atsushi Mizuno voted against the proposal by governor Toshihiko Fukui to leave the overnight call rate at the current level...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China is likely to tolerate above-forecast levels of monetary growth, apparently accepting that the strong economy will lead to some of its economic targets being surpassed, Deutsche Bank said.The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said M2 growth was 17...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Industrial output in May fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3 pct from April, according to revised data issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.The ministry's initial estimate was that industrial output had declined by 0...

JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesia's consumption of cement in the first half was 7.5 percent higher than a year before at 15.6 million tons, the size of the increase being due in part to the low base of comparison a year earlier, Indonesian Cement Association chairman Urip Timuryono said Thursday...

MANILA (Thomson Financial) - The Philippine government's outstanding debt dropped by 0.8 percent from the previous month to 3.9 trillion pesos at the end of April following loan repayments and the appreciation of the peso and other currencies against the US dollar, the Bureau of Treasury said on Thursday...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The People's Bank of China said it drained 45 bln yuan from the banking system via the sale of three-year bonds and three-month bank bills in today's open market operations.The bank said in a statement published on its website that the yield for the 1...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's June actual foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled 6.63 bln usd, rose 21.91 pct year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said.Actual FDI in May was 4.899 bln usd, up 8.65 pct year-on-year.The ministry said that actual FDI in the first six months of the year totaled 31...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Actual foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of the year totaled 31.889 bln usd, up 12.17 pct year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said.In June, actual FDI totaled 6.63 bln usd, up 21.91 pct.allen.shu@xfn.com-..

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - A smaller-than-expected employment growth of just 2,500 in June should ease the short-term concerns within the Reserve Bank of Australia that the solid jobs growth underway could increase inflationary pressures, according to HSBC Australia and New Zealand chief economist John Edwards...

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore can expect to conclude a free trade agreement with China by next year, the traits Times newspaper reported Thursday, citing a top government official who met with China's Vice Premier Wu Yi.Talks on the FTA began last October...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australia's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in June from the record low of 4.2 percent in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said Thursday.The market was expecting the jobless rate to have stayed at 4...

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks in the week to July 7, making them net buyers for the second consecutive week, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance releasedon Thursday.Overseas investors bought Japanese shares worth a net 761...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - More signs of a slowing UK property market emerged today with a key survey of the sector showing that price gains are getting harder to come by after the series of rate hikes delivered by the Bank of England.The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said only a net balance of 10...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Private equity firms that sell shares to the public should be designated as investment companies, a category that would have meant more regulation for Blackstone Group, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday.Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said during a House hearing that the Securities and Exchange Commission made a mistake last month when it refused to classify the New York-based Blackstone as an investment firm before it proceeded with its initial public offering...