UPDATE 1-Wolseley 11-mth pretax profit down, warns on US

(Reuters) - Wolseley said the lower profit was due to higher interest
costs and expected that 12-month group trading profit would be
affected by further one-off restructuring costs of around 9
million pounds.




"There are no signs of any upturn in the U.S. housing market
and the timing of any recovery remains uncertain," the world's
largest distributor of plumbing and heating products and
building materials said in a trading update.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Total sees Shtokman investment at $4-5 bln -report

(Reuters) - Gazprom chose Total as development partner on Thursday in a
sign of closer Moscow-Paris ties, but the move left questions
over how good a deal the French group had won.




Under the deal, Total will receive a 25 percent stake in the
company that will build and own the pipes, rigs and other
infrastructure for the first phase of Shtokman's development.
Asked whether not holding a stake in the production license
was risky, de Margerie said: "A group like ours wishes for a
remuneration that corresponds to the risks taken and the work
that has been made."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Xinhua Media eyes stake in online bookstore-sources

(Reuters) - Xinhua Media, controlled by state-owned Jiefang Daily Press
Group, one of China's biggest newspaper publishers, hopes to team
up with Beijing-based Dangdang.com to tap the domestic online
book market, said the sources, who declined to be identified.




Xinhua Media, which dominates distribution channels for books
and magazines in Shanghai, China's financial hub, went public on
the domestic A-share market through a back-door listing earlier
this year.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

HBOS, BHP Billiton, Tesco, Aviva, Vodafone: U.K., Irish Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
in U.K. and Irish markets today. Stock symbols are in parentheses
and prices are from the market close on July 13.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index advanced 19, or 0.3 percent, to
close at 6716.70 in London. The FTSE All-Share Index added 13.87,
or 0.4 percent, to 3467.92.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Stocks in U.S. Poised to Decline at Least 10 Percent, Options Betting Show

(Bloomberg) -- Bets in the options market against
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have exceeded wagers it will
rise by a 2-to-1 margin for a month, the longest since Bloomberg
began compiling the data in 1995.

That's seen as a warning sign the market is due for a
decline of 5 to 10 percent after the S&P 500 rose to two records
last week, say managers of almost $1 trillion at Morgan Stanley
Global Wealth Management, National City Private Client Group and
Russell Investment Group. The Leuthold Group, whose flagship
fund has beaten 99 percent of similar funds over the last five
years, expects the S&P 500 to slide as much as 19 percent by the
end of the year.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Indonesia's Cikarang Listrindo to Sell $425 Million of High-Yield Bonds

(Bloomberg) -- PT Cikarang Listrindo, an independent
power producer in Indonesia, plans to sell $425 million of high-
yield, high-risk bonds, according to an e-mail sent to investors.

The power company, which supplies to state-owned utility PT
Perusahaan Listrik Negara, hired Morgan Stanley and UBS AG to
arrange the sale, the e-mail shows.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

India's Rupee May Halt Advance on Speculation Reserve Bank to Curb Gains

(Bloomberg) -- India's rupee, Asia's second-best
performer this year, may end five weeks of gains on speculation
the central bank will sell it for dollars to protect exporters,
a survey of traders showed.

Dollar purchases by the Reserve Bank of India have helped
stem gains as the local currency last week failed to break 40.34
per dollar after retreating from a nine-year high touched on May
28. The biggest quarterly gain in more than three decades
prompted Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's second-biggest
software maker, last week to pare profit estimates for the year.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

South Korea's Kospi Is Little Changed; Samsung Electronics, Kookmin Fall

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea's benchmark stock index,
the Kospi Index, fell 0.02 percent at 9:05 a.m.

The index of 731 companies traded on the Korea Exchange
fell 0.32 to 1,962.61. Among the stocks in the index, 347 rose,
253 fell and 131 were unchanged.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Auckland Airport, Goodman Property Viking: New Zealand Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's NZX 50 Index rose 1.72
point to 4245.38 at 10:41 a.m. in Wellington. The following shares
rose or fell. Stock symbols are in brackets after company names.

Auckland International Airport Ltd. (AIA NZ), the nation's
busiest gateway, rose 1 cent, or 0.3 percent, to NZ$3.31. The
shares have gained 17 percent from their level before June 18,
when the airport company said it was in talks with Canada Pension
Plan Investment Board and other parties that may result in an
offer.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Australian Dollar Trades Near Highest in 18 Years in Early Sydney Trading

(Bloomberg) -- The Australian dollar rose was at
87.03 U.S. cents at 7:25 a.m. in Sydney from 87.12 late in New
York last week, when it reached 87.16 cents, the highest since
February 1989.

The currency traded at 106.11 yen from 106.21 yen in New
York July 13, when it touched 106.36 yen, the most since
September 1991.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Dubai stock market owner to bid for OMX: report

(Reuters) - Nasdaq's cash and stock offer was worth $3.7 billion when made in May and valued OMX at 208.1 crowns per share.




Bankers at UBS and Goldman Sachs are understood to have been asked to be on standby to launch a bid for OMX on behalf of the DIFC as early as next week, the website said.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Egyptian indexes rebound, housing and EFG-Hermes up

(Reuters) - Egypt's main stock indexes rebounded on Sunday from last week's correction, carried by a strong rally in the housing sector and a rise in investment bank EFG-Hermes, traders said.

EFG-Hermes climbed 5 percent to reach a year closing high of 51 Egyptian pounds per share after renewed interest in the sector following the announcement last week that Egypt would privatise state-owned Banque du Caire within six to nine months.


Read more at Reuters Africa

T.Italia close to Brasil Telecom stake sale-report

(Reuters) - Egyptian telecom operator Orascom Telecom pulled
out of talks to buy the Telecom Italia stake in Brasil Telecom
last month.




Brasil Telecom's controlling shareholders are a group of
Brazilian state-run pension funds and Citigroup , which
have said in the past they plan eventually to sell their stakes.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News