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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Sports Direct International PLC said Mike Ashley, its founder and deputy chairman, sold 24 million ordinary shares, representing a 4% holding in the firm. The firm said Ashley's investment vehicle sold the shares at 850 pence per share, resulting in a transaction worth GBP204 million. Following this disposal, Ashley holds 345.4 million ordinary shares with full voting rights, representing 57.7% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Sports Direct.
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Ferrexpo PLC said it increased its proportion of higher grades and pellet production from both its own ore and from third party materials in the first quarter of 2014. The iron ore producer, which operates solely in Ukraine, said its total production increased 10% to 2.8 million tonnes in the three months ended March 31 from 2.6 million tonnes in the same period the previous year. The news comes a month after the company said its pretax profit increased in 2013 due to strong revenues and said there were currently no disruptions to its operations in Ukraine despite the ongoing political upheaval in the country.
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The chief executive of Chilean mining company Antofagasta PLC told Reuters on Monday that despite the market for copper facing its first supply glut in four years, the price of copper may have found a bottom. Chief Executive Diego Hernandez said the worst of the worries about the implications of a Chinese economic slowdown for copper prices may have passed. The news comes as copper prices fell to three-and-a-half-year lows, according to Reuters, after a bond default by a Chinese company increased fears about credit problems in the world's second biggest economy.
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BT PLC has poached British Sky Broadcasting PLC executive Delia Bushell to head up its television division, The Guardian reported late Monday. Bushell has worked at BSkyB and Sky Italia for 14 years, and was most recently chief commercial officer at Sky Italia. Bushell will take on the new role at BT in July, the newspaper said.
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Barclays PLC has reached a settlement with Guardian Care Homes ahead of a court case that was being seen as the measure of whether customers might take the legal route against banks over the manipulation of the Libor benchmark rate. The accusation had been that Barclays mis-sold products linked to Libor to the care home operator.
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Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Ltd, the recently listed African bank investment vehicle created by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, said it has recruited John Vitalo is its CEO. Vitalo joins from Barclays, where he was head of the banks operations in the Middle East and North Africa. Atlas Mara also confirmed its acquisition of the commercial arm of the Development Bank of Rwanda.
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Finnish telecommunications group Nokia Oyj said it had cleared another hurdle in its sale of its handset business to US software giant Microsoft Corp after securing approval from Chinese authorities. Following the European Commission and the US Justice Department, China's Ministry of Commerce becomes the latest regulator to approve the 5.44-billion-euro (7.2-billion-dollar) deal unveiled in September. Nokia said it expected the deal to be completed this month.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices continue to slide following the technology stock-led sell-off in global equities on Monday, and as tensions once again escalate between Russia and Ukraine.
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FTSE 100: down 0.7% at 6576.80
FTSE 250: down 1.3% at 16056.70
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 1.1% at 840.31
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Positive UK manufacturing data has boosted the pound by more than a cent against the dollar to a near four-week high.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6712
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3768

GOLD: up at USD1311.68per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.30 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK industrial production grew more-than-expected in February, driven by strong contribution from oil and gas extraction. Industrial production grew 0.9% in February from month ago, when it remained flat, the Office for National Statistics said. Manufacturing output climbed 1%, which was faster than the 0.3% rise seen in January. Economists had forecast output to grow by 0.3% again in February. The annual increase in industrial production slowed marginally to 2.7% in February from 2.8% in January. Meanwhile, manufacturing output grew at a faster pace of 3.8% annually after rising 3.2% a month ago.
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The UK service sector exports rose to an all-time high in the first quarter, latest Quarterly Economic Survey from the British Chambers of Commerce showed. The survey provided further evidence that the economy is continuing to grow, with results showing many key manufacturing balances at record levels and exports orders and sales in services at new highs.
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Permanent salaries in the UK rose at the fastest pace in nearly six years during March, while temporary pay growth eased, Markit Economics said, citing the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG Report on Jobs. Starting salaries for those in permanent jobs grew at the fastest pace since July 2007, the survey said. However, the pay of temporary/contract staff rose at the slowest rate in five months.
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New accounting standards being adopted by the UK Office of National Statistics will count future pension rights as if they were present income, a move expected to instantly turn the UK into a nation of savers, according to the Telegraph and other UK press. The new standards, which are the first such reforms for 15 years and will take effect from September, are expected to boost the size of the British economy, increase the amount of public debt and raise the savings ratio in the country. As a result of the changes, the ONS could revise up growth in 2012 and 2013.
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Ukrainian security forces raided a government building in the eastern city of Kharkiv that had been occupied by pro-Russia demonstrators and arrested some 70 people, officials said. No shots were fired, the news portal hromadske.tv reported. Ukraine's acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the city centre, where demonstrators had gathered, was now cordoned off. The acting Ukrainian president announced a day earlier that "anti-terror" operations were being launched in response to a wave of protests in cities across the Russian-speaking east of the country.
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The EU's top court rejected an EU law that requires telecommunications companies to log private data for law enforcement purposes, arguing that it breaches citizens' fundamental rights. The so-called Data Retention Directive was adopted as part of anti-terrorism measures in 2006, following attacks in London and Madrid. It specifies that firms must save data for a period of up to two years, calling on member states to implement the necessary laws.
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The Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged and maintained its upbeat economic outlook even after the government raised the sales tax this month for the first time since 1997. The Policy Board on Tuesday decided to continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60-JPY70 trillion. Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend, albeit with some fluctuations due to the consumption tax hike, the bank said in a statement.
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An Australian ship was trawling a small patch of the Indian Ocean trying to resume contact with electronic pulses detected earlier that may come from the flight recorders of a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger plane. If contact is resumed, a Bluefin-21 unmanned mini-submarine would be lowered from the vessel Ocean Shield to scan for wreckage, first with side sonar and then with a camera.
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