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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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BP faces the prospect of fresh regulatory fines after a US judge ruled that its energy traders rigged the natural gas market in Texas in the aftermath of a 2008 hurricane, the Financial Times reported. Citing the judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the US, the FT said the oil and gas giant's traders based at the company's Southeast Gulf Texas office plotted to lose some money on physical gas positions in order to boost the value of holdings of financial derivatives tracking gas. The FT said the fine could run into the "tens of millions of dollars" and comes after the company recently concluded a USD18.70 billion settlement with the US government over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has advised competition watchdogs that most of the concerns raised by BT Group's rivals over its takeover of EE do not merit intervention to curb the combined companies' power, the Telegraph reported. Ofcom does not have the authority to approve the merger, but its advice to the UK Competition and Markets Authority is a boost to BT.
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Glencore said it has completed the sale of the Tampakan copper project and of its stake in the Falcondo nickel operation and Sipilou nickel project. The assets were inherited when the multi-commodity miner acquired Xstrata in May 2013, and Glencore generated a total of USD290 million in proceeds from the sales.
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BHP Billiton said it has appointed Anita Frew, currently chairman designate of Croda International and deputy chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, to its board as a non-executive director.
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IP Group said its portfolio company First Light Fusion Ltd has completed a GBP22.7 million fund-raising. First Light Fusion was spun-out of the University of Oxford, and is focused on new implosion processes which have the potential to "dramatically shorten the timescale and cost of achieving practical and affordable fusion energy", IP Group said. The fund-raising will be completed in two tranches, and IP Group has committed GBP5.8 million to the first tranche. Following the first tranche it has a 34.9% interest in First Light.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are trading firm as Greece moved a step closer to its third debt bailout and China eased market concerns by raising the value of the yuan after three consecutive days of devaluation.
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,578.15
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 17,671.22
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 750.71
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Oil prices fell to a six-year low. West Texas Intermediate fell to a new six-and-a-half-year low on Thursday at USD41.65 a barrel, while Brent oil hit a low of USD48.82 a barrel.
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GBP: up at USD1.5621
EUR: flat at USD1.1154

GOLD: up at USD49.44 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD49.44 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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After a three-day slide that sent shockwaves through global markets, China's yuan rose slightly against the US dollar Friday. China's central bank set its daily reference rate at 6.3975 to the dollar, compared to 6.4010 on Thursday. During each trading day, the value of the yuan is allowed to move by a maximum of 2% above or below the reference rate, known as the central parity rate. On Tuesday the People's Bank of China cut the rate by 1.9%, followed by a 1.6% drop on Wednesday and a further 1.1% drop on Thursday, prompting share price falls across the globe.
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The Greek Parliament has approved a draft agreement with its creditors over the terms of the third bailout which would help the nation stay afloat. The proposed deal was put to vote Friday morning after a marathon debate overnight, which witnessed heated exchanges. The deal received a handsome support of 222 members against 64 No votes and 11 abstentions, although Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced dissent from 31 MPs within his own Syriza party. The biggest rebellion within the ruling party since Tsipras came to power earlier this year will reportedly force him to seek a confidence vote in the parliament next week.
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The European institutions overseeing Greece's bailout have expressed "serious concerns" over the sustainability of the country's debt, bringing them in-line with the assessment by the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Times reported. Both the European Commission and the European Central Bank argue in a new analysis that debt relief measures, including extending repayment periods, would allow Athens to achieve debt sustainability, a solution advocated by the International Monetary Fund. They say such moves would avoid the need for a full-scale debt haircut. The call to back debt relief puts pressure on Berlin which has been opposed to debt relief, saying that any nominal haircut would be illegal under EU treaties.
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Eurozone economic growth slowed marginally in the second quarter, preliminary data from Eurostat showed. Gross domestic product expanded 0.3% sequentially in the June quarter. The rate of growth was expected to remain unchanged at 0.4%. Year-on-year, GDP growth improved to 1.2% from 1%. Nonetheless, annual growth was slightly slower than the 1.3% expansion forecast by economists. Final data from Eurostat confirmed 0.2% inflation for July, the same rate as seen in June. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.6%.
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A rise in exports caused by a lower euro helped the biggest economies in the eurozone, but German economic growth was lower-than-expected in the second quarter and France's growth ground to a halt, according to statistics released. Germany's gross domestic product grew 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, its statistics office, Destatis, said. The figure for the eurozone's largest economy was higher than the 0.3% pace set in the first quarter but lower than the 0.5% analysts had predicted. The French economy, the eurozone's second-largest, posted zero growth quarter-on-quarter after both lower consumer spending and investment offset a rise in exports, the statistics office Insee said. The stagnation followed 0.7% growth in the first quarter, France's fastest pace in nearly two years, Insee said. Analysts surveyed by dpa-AFX had expected its gross domestic product to expand 0.2% in the second quarter.
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Ireland June Trade Surplus EUR4.1B Versus EUR3.9B In May
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The details of a massive explosion at a chemical warehouse in north-eastern China were still unclear, an official said, as investigations were ongoing. "We are not sure what chemicals they were," said Gao Huaiyou, deputy director of work safety for the port city of Tianjin. "We also don't know what quantities they were," he told reporters. At least 50 people were killed and 700 injured when explosions and a fireball hit a chemical warehouse late Wednesday. At least 17 of the fatalities were fire crew tackling the fire that sparked the explosions, with 21 rescue personnel still missing. More than 70 of the injured were in serious condition. Around 3,500 people were made homeless and moved to centres set up in 10 schools.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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