Thailand's main stock index ended almost flat on Thursday after a three-day rally, but foreign buying pushed up top energy firm PTT PCL due to its plan to sell shares in a subsidiary, analysts said.
Jakarta stocks edged lower on Thursday as profit taking in some key shares kicked in after recent strong gains, but the positive trend ahead of the September 20 presidential election remains intact, analysts said.
Singapore shares ended slightly lower on Thursday, led by slide in index heavyweights after recent heady gains, but consumer and property stocks pulled the market off early lows.
Tokyo's Nikkei average gave up 0.17 percent by the close on Thursday as techs such as Hitachi Ltd followed their US rivals lower after investment bank Goldman Sachs noted a slowdown in technology spending.
Taiwan stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday after 2 days of losses, as investors ventured back for bargains in microchip shares like Powerchip that largely ignored weakness in US counterparts.
Philippine stocks fell for the third straight day on Thursday, with more profit-taking in dominant phone firm PLDT and its chief rival Globe Telecom Inc after a recent 9-day rally.
Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus reported Thursday the first profit since its birth in 1999 thanks to cost cuts, rising metals prices and strong demand, notably from China.
Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus reported Thursday the first profit since its birth in 1999 thanks to cost cuts, rising metals prices and strong demand, notably from China.
India's efforts to rein in its high fiscal deficit are unlikely to succeed, with the budget gap seen remaining at 4.8 percent of gross domestic product this year as revenues slip on slower growth, according to a Reuters poll.
New Zealand oil reserves are below the minimum required by the International Energy Agency (IEA) because of discrepancies in its record system, the government said on Thursday.
Turkey's talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new economic programme are expected to last until the end of this year, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday Malawi's economic programme under new President Bingu Wa Mutharika "seems to turn around a very difficult situation" after a record of poor performance.
Indonesia, with its oil production in decline, has urged Caltex Pacific Indonesia to develop a tertiary oil recovery project for the Minas field to boost production, energy watchdog BP Migas said on Thursday.
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said on Thursday both he and the president were guided by the market in economic policy, dismissing talk in some media and business circles that the administration was left-leaning in this area.
Trade between the two Koreas rose 6.4 percent in the first eight months of 2004, Seoul's Unification Ministry on Thursday, led by non-commercial business in the form of aid and subsidies from the capitalist South.
Camera maker Eastman Kodak Co, and IBM, the world's biggest computer company, said on Thursday that the two US companies had agreed to a deal in which IBM will manufacture digital image sensors for Kodak.
Russia is considering an offer to the Paris Club of creditor nations involving a swap of outstanding debt into bonds, a top Russian banker said on Thursday.
Russia is considering an offer to the Paris Club of creditor nations involving a swap of outstanding debt into bonds, a top Russian banker said on Thursday.
The Italian state airline Alitalia, which is fighting for survival, said Thursday it had reached a wage-freeze agreement with unions representing ground personnel.
US and EU negotiators traded arguments on Thursday over state aid for aircraft rivals Airbus and Boeing, remaining far apart on a sensitive issue that has gathered steam in the run-up to US presidential elections.
Hong Kong's unemployment rate slipped to a 30-month low in the June-to-August period as the territory's economic recovery created more jobs, the government said on Thursday.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, police and other public sector employees walked off the job across South Africa on Thursday to demand better wages in one of the biggest strikes since the end of apartheid a decade ago.
A World Trade Organisation report on Thursday backed moves to get mainly wealthy countries to open up to more extensive temporary migration for workers, saying it could boost the welfare of both the country of origin and the host.
British retail sales unexpectedly jumped in August, stunning financial markets prepared for a drop, and suggesting that the Bank of England is likely to raise interest rates again later this year.
Federal regulators have launched an investigation into creditor actions in the WorldCom bankruptcy, demanding thousands of documents from bondholders related to the largest US bankruptcy, according to court documents.
Opec met Big Oil on Thursday in an impressive gathering of top oil muscle but failed to offer much hope for a quick cure to the scare over rising fuel costs.
US consumer prices inched up just 0.1 percent last month as gasoline and car prices tumbled, the government said on Thursday in a report suggesting an inflation spike earlier this year was an aberration.
A major wrangle over TV rights for Indian cricket is threatening to mar the build-up to a mouth-watering home Test series against Australia next month.
Damien Martyn scored his 23rd one-day half century while Andrew Symonds smashed his way to his 11th as Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets in their Champions Trophy Pool A game at The Oval on Thursday.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi said the team were in confident mood ahead of their winner-take-all Champions Trophy clash against India at Edgbaston on Sunday.
The International Cricket Council has sought to pacify Pakistan chief selector Wasim Bari after he was criticised for objecting to decisions by ICC umpire David Shepherd.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday warned governments against use of methyl bromide, which could have hinder the global bid to repair the atmospheric ozone layer that filters out harmful levels of the sun's ultra-violet rays.
Taiwan is considering applying to join the United Nations under the island's own name, a move that China would see as a provocative declaration of independence by a renegade province.
China and the leader of Hong Kong have invited some of the city's newly elected pro-democracy legislators for talks, apparently seeking reconciliation and co-operation, officials said on Thursday.
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is best placed to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize while US President George W. Bush has no chance, an online betting site predicted on Thursday, three weeks ahead of the official announcement.
At least 24 wedding guests, including women and children, were killed and 51 injured when their bus collided with a goods truck in Bangladesh, police said on Thursday.
Serbian Education Minister Ljiljana Colic resigned on Thursday after provoking ridicule as the "medieval minister" for proposing that creationism be taught in schools and warning against computers.
Romania on Thursday took its territorial dispute with Ukraine over the sharing of Black Sea hydrocarbon resources to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) following fruitless negotiations between the two neighbours.
The Swiss franc gained slightly against the US dollar in early European trade on Thursday with attention turned on the Swiss National Bank's quarterly policy review later in the session when rates are expected to rise.
The Hong Kong dollar moved in narrow ranges against the US unit on Thursday, while discounts on forwards remained deep as the market focused on the Chinese yuan.
Asian currencies were a mixed bag on Thursday as a suspicion central banks were intervening halted rallies in the Singapore dollar and the north Asians while the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah rose on recovering stock markets.
Record high Canadian factory shipment figures did not help the Canadian dollar on Wednesday as US economic reports prompted a broad rally in the US currency.
The Australian dollar ended Thursday at the bottom of the local session's range as investors await inflation and other data in the United States for clues to how fast US interest rates will rise.
India's central bank sold a net $1.18 billion in the domestic currency market in July to support a shaky rupee, data from its latest monthly bulletin released on Thursday showed.
An Indonesian court sentenced a prominent magazine editor to one year in jail on Thursday for libel against a high-profile businessman in a case that has prompted fears the country's press freedom may be under threat.
A Time magazine reporter and his employer Time Inc received fresh subpoenas from the US Justice Department seeking more information about sources for an article on the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity, The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.
Some 8,000 Palestinians packed the centre of the main northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday as they paid their last respects to five Palestinians and a schoolgirl slain in a raid by Israeli troops.
Gunmen kidnapped two Americans and a Briton from a house in an affluent central Baghdad neighbourhood on Thursday, the latest in a nearly six-month campaign of abductions of foreigners in Iraq.
A US intelligence report prepared for President George W. Bush in July offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst scenario being a deterioration into civil war, US government officials said on Thursday.
China's Communist Party opened a four-day, closed-door meeting on Thursday that will decide whether military chief Jiang Zemin completes a leadership succession by passing on his last post to party chief Hu Jintao.
As the convention-time boost enjoyed by President George W. Bush began to wane, he and rival John Kerry were again running neck and neck less than two months ahead of the November 2 election.
An Indonesian militant who handled explosives used in last year's deadly bombing of a Jakarta hotel was Thursday jailed for 12 years - the highest sentence so far handed down for the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ruled out negotiations with Chechen rebels after the Beslan school bloodbath, further straining ties with Western leaders who are pressing for a political solution to Chechnya.
A senior US official said on Thursday that satellite photographs of a suspected nuclear industrial site in Iran demonstrated its intention to develop atomic weapons, an allegation Tehran dismissed as "a new lie".
A rain-swollen river in Bangladesh has burst its banks, sending torrents of water through more than 100 villages south-east of the capital and leaving thousands of people homeless, officials said on Thursday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an assassination bid on Thursday when a rocket was fired at his US military helicopter as it was landing in the south-eastern town of Gardez.
The Indian rupee slipped from a two-month peak on Thursday, ending weaker for the first time in seven days on dollar demand from oil companies and foreign funds in a market cautious about the dollar's rise overseas.
Sterling jumped more than half a US cent and also rose against the euro on Thursday as stronger than expected UK retail sales raised expectations that there might be more room for British interest rates to rise.
The dollar kept close to the previous session's one-week highs against the euro on Thursday, holding steady as investors awaited US data to confirm fresh signs of strength in US manufacturing.
Poland's grain output this year is likely to set a new record high, topping earlier forecasts for 25-26 million tonnes, Farming Minister Wojciech Olejniczak told Reuters on Thursday.
The International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) will cut back on open outcry dealings in Brent oil futures, which from November 1 will trade only on an electronic platform until 2 p.m., the exchange said on Thursday.
Hurricane Ivan caused almost no damage to Cuba's sugar industry as it roared by the western tip of the island Monday, and the storm provided much-needed moisture to the drought-stricken crop, media reports and sources said.
World oil prices rose on Thursday on worries about oil production shut by Hurricane Ivan and a new storm that could delay imports from entering the Gulf of Mexico.
London white sugar futures settled lower on fund selling on Thursday, traders said, and LIFFE reported deliveries of 14,000 tonnes against the expiry of the October contract on Wednesday.
NYBOT cotton futures closed Thursday at a one-month low on speculative and options-related sales, with players ignoring news of heavy damage by Hurricane Ivan to cotton farms in Alabama, analysts said.
London cocoa futures settled about 2.6 percent lower on Thursday as expectations of new liquidation by funds deterred industry and speculator buyers, dealers said.
Gold lost ground in Europe on Thursday, but losses were limited on the dollar's muted reaction to US inflation data that suggested the Federal Reserve would stick to a measured pace of interest rate rises, dealers said.
Benchmark arabica coffee futures rose to a three-month high on a technical bounce Thursday, while the harvest season winds down in top grower Brazil, traders said.
Cocoa futures dropped nearly 2 percent on Thursday as speculative fund selling weighed on the market while industry buyers held back, traders and analysts said.
NYBOT raw sugar futures closed softer Thursday on switch dealings as players rolled positions out of the spot October contract ahead of its expiration this month, brokers said.
Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures turned lower on profit-taking early Thursday after December hit resistance at $3.39-1/2 per bushel, traders said.
Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade opened firm on Thursday on better-than-expected weekly export sales, but quickly turned lower as the market stays pressured by prospects for a record-large US corn crop, traders said.
Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures were weak at midday Thursday as commercial sales and harvest pressure offset supportive weekly US soyabean export sales and buying on technically oversold signs, brokers said.
COMEX copper rose to a one-month high at the open on Thursday driven up by a surge in London prices that was triggered by an advance in the Asian market where a temporary supply squeeze sparked the rally, traders said.
COMEX gold slipped Thursday morning in thin trade, as dealers said the market was digesting tame US economic data and also keeping an eye on volatile crude oil prices and the dollar.
US stocks rose on Thursday as inflation data suggesting the Federal Reserve will not hurry to raise interest rates encouraged investors and oil prices slipped as some refineries restarted after Hurricane Ivan.
South Korean shares ended up just over half a percent on Thursday, recording their highest closing level in more than four months, led by gains in bank stocks and encouraged by heavy foreign buying in futures.
Europe's corporate bond market celebrated firsts on Thursday, as UK airports operator BAA sold its debut euro-denominated bond and Corus showed a maiden first half profit and revived a bond sale.
Europe's corporate bond market celebrated firsts on Thursday, as UK airports operator BAA sold its debut euro-denominated bond and Corus showed a maiden first half profit and revived a bond sale.
Britain's FTSE 100 index closed firmer on Thursday, with home improvements retailer Kingfisher one of the biggest gainers, up 3.3 percent after it beat forecasts with an 18 percent surge in first half profits.
A Pakistani fertiliser company has signed an agreement with Morocco for the establishment of a joint venture in the Northern African country to produce 375,000 tonnes of phosporic acid for use by the Fauji Group.