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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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Exova Group, Polypipe Group, and Cambian Group priced their initial public offerings and began conditional dealings, as the parade of companies floating on the London Stock Exchange continues to grow.
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Lombard Medical Technologies delayed its initial public offering on the NASDAQ, blaming the adverse US stock market conditions that has seen biotechnology stocks sold heavily on Wall Street in recent days.
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Investec will sell the professional finance and asset finance and leasing business of its Australian operations as well as the unit's deposit book to Bank of Queensland Ltd, a deal that will boost the South African bank's balance sheet.
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Jupiter Fund Management reported GBP547.0 million in first-quarter net inflows, boosting its assets under management to GBP32.21 billion at the end of March, from GBP31.66 billion at the end of December. Net inflows were boosted by GBP465.0 million of net inflows into mutual funds, with inflows from the UK and its international channels.
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XP Power said it is still expecting revenue to grow again in 2014, as it saw revenues rise 7% on the year in the first quarter and said order intake was robust. In a positive signal for profitability, the power control components manufacturer also said margins improved in the three months to the end of March as it increased its factory utilisation. It proposed a dividend of 12 pence for the first quarter, up from 11 pence last year.
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MARKETS
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Stock indices in the UK and Europe are firmly lower, as technology stocks lead an equity sell-off for the second time this week amid concern that the sector is overvalued.
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FTSE 100: Down 1.2% at 6,562.91
FTSE 250: Down 1.6% at 15,886.05
AIM ALL-SHARE: Down 0.9% at 836.93
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Weaker-than-expected UK construction output data sent the pound a little lower against the dollar, while the euro is continuing to trade near a one-month high against the dollar.
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GBP-USD: Down at USD1.6770
EUR-USD: Up at USD1.3892

GOLD: Up at USD1,319.56 per ounce
OIL (Brent): Down at USD107.11 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's leading industrialized economies are discussing an International Monetary Fund rescue package for Ukraine, on the sidelines of a broader meetings in Washington. The Group of Seven meeting Thursday addressed a proposed IMF package worth up to USD18 billion over two years to keep Ukraine afloat, and other international measures to help stabilize the county after months of unrest and Russia's seizure of the Crimea.
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UK construction output fell by 2.8% on the month in February, after having risen by 2.1% in January. Economists had expected a 1.3% decline.
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Inflation in China was up 2.4% on year in March, the government said. That was in line with expectations and up from 2.0% in February. Among the individual components, food prices jumped 4.1% on year, while non-food prices added 1.5%. The data also showed that producer prices remained stuck in deflation, contracting 2.3% on year.
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The members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that Japan was seeing a moderate economic recovery which is likely to continue, minutes from the board's March 10 and 11 meeting revealed. The board members added that the country appears to finally be on the right track in its war with deflation, as inflation finally appears to be rising. They did not, however, wish to undertake any action ahead of the new sales tax that has recently been enacted.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Greece in a show of support for the country's economic recovery, one day after it returned to international bond markets after a four-year exile. Merkel will hold talks with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on the state of Greece's finances, promising investment and work programmes to help the youth. She is scheduled to take part in a forum for young entrepreneurs during her one-day visit.
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The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic. The UN mission will take over peacekeeping operations in mid-September from the 2,000 French and 6,500 African forces currently on the ground battling to contain the protracted violence plaguing the former French colony.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on Friday approved a new energy policy that sees nuclear power as an important source of electricity, three years after the nation's worst atomic accident. The new policy nullifies a nuclear phase-out plan approved by the previous government following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which was caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
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