Samsung shares pare losses following outage

(Reuters) - Samsung's Kiheung sprawling complex was hit by a power shortage on Friday afternoon that shut down six of its chip production lines, raising the prospect of price increases and boosting shares of rival memory chip makers.




Some analysts on Friday said the incident could wipe out as much as a month's worth of Samsung's total output of NAND flash memory chips, but the firm later said damage from the accident would be smaller than expected.


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South Korea's Kospi Index Falls, Led by Samsung, Posco and Kookmin Bank

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea's benchmark stock index,
the Kospi Index, fell 2.41 percent at 9:05 a.m.

The index of 733 companies traded on the Korea Exchange
fell 45.19 to 1,831.61. Among the stocks in the index, 88 rose,
566 fell and 79 were unchanged.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Dollar Falls to Four-Month Low Against Yen on Concerns About U.S. Growth

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell to a four-month low
against the yen on signs losses related to subprime mortgages
are starting to slow U.S. economic growth.

The dollar also traded near a record low against the euro
after the yield spread between U.S. and German two-year bonds
narrowed to the least in 2 1/2 years. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index slid the most in five months and two-year Treasury yields
dropped to an 18-month low Aug. 3 as reports on employment and
services suggested housing market weakness is causing economic
growth to slow.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Vattenfall Prolongs Maintenance Shutdown by Six Days at Forsmark Reactor

(Bloomberg) -- Vattenfall AB, the Nordic region's
biggest utility, said its Forsmark B2 nuclear reactor will be
shut down for maintenance work six days longer than previously
reported.

The reactor, with a maximum capacity of 1,000 megawatts,
will be off until Aug. 23 instead of Aug. 17, Forsmark Kraftgrupp
AB said today in a statement distributed by the Nord Pool ASA
power exchange. The Forsmark nuclear plant is located on Sweden's
east coast, north of Stockholm.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

ACA Capital shares could fall on subprime: Barron's

(Reuters) - Should the U.S. subprime troubles prove to be systemic across different geographies, then not only would shares be hammered, but the company could be toast, Barron's said.




If ACA buckles under, Wall Street firms whose securities the company insured would also be hurt. The $61 billion of ACA's insured exposure would come cascading back to balance sheets of the likes of Bear Stearns , Merrill Lynch , Lehman Brothers , and Citigroup along with some 25 other Wall Street counterparties, Barron's said.


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Fed to weigh hit of credit crunch

(Reuters) - The Fed is widely expected to hold overnight interest rates steady at 5.25 percent, where they have been for more than a year. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee is expected to release a statement outlining its views on the economy at around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday.




Markets will watch keenly for any sign the U.S. central bank, which has persistently identified the risk of inflation as its main concern, is beginning to worry a bit more about the potential for an undesirable weakening in the economy.


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HK financier Francis Leung joins CVC as adviser

(Reuters) - Leung, a long-time banker to Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing with close China ties, was with Citigroup Global Markets as chairman of Asia until last year focusing on developing Citigroup's Greater China investment banking business, CVC said.




CVC, which is a major shareholder in global motor racing business Formula 1, owns interest in Australia's media group PBL Media, Japan's restaurant chain Skylark, Singapore's precision metals stamping firm Amtek, Malaysia's largest paper packaging firm GS Paper and Packaging, and Chinese wood fibreboards maker Plantation Timber Products.


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