LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Sky is set to call for a full competition inquiry into BT Group's hold over the national telecommunications network, the Financial Times reports. Sky will table a formal submission to UK media and communications regulator Ofcom accusing BT's Openreach infrastructure arm of a slew of service failures and will argue there is sufficient evidence against BT for Ofcom to request the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK's competition watchdog, to conduct a full-blown inquiry.
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Separately , Sky and John Malone’s cable television firm Liberty Global are weighing offers for a GBP4.5 billion controlling stake in Formula One, putting them in competition with a Qatari-backed consortium for control of the motor racing series, the Sunday Times reported.
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Ladbrokes said the announcement of the results of its Business Review, which had been due on Wednesday, will be deferred until further notice following the bookmaker having entered takeover talks with unlisted rival Gala Coral Group.
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Ocado Group is close to securing a deal with an international retailer which will allow the company to expand outside of the UK for the first time, The Daily Telegraph reports. Ocado revealed earlier this year that it has developed a system which will allow it to sell its online grocery technology to overseas retailers. The newspaper said the deal is unlikely to be announced during Ocado's interim results, due Tuesday, but it said the company is likely to express confidence that a deal is close to being done.
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Insurance technology and outsourcing company Quindell said its results for the year to the end of December will not be published before the end of June due to the "complexity of the process". Quindell said it is "working through the outstanding points" and said the accounts will be published as soon as possible and said its shares will continue to be suspended until that time.
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MARKETS
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London share prices are significantly lower mid-morning, amid a sell-off in European equities after Greece imposed capital controls and scheduled a referendum for next Sunday on the terms offered by its creditors for a debt bailout.
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FTSE 100: down 1.6% at 6,844.12
FTSE 250: down 1.3% at 17,591.11
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 1.4% at 757.84
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The euro has hit a one-month low of USD1.0952.
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GBP: down at USD1.5697
EUR: down at USD1.0952
GOLD: up at USD1177.11 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD61.72 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Greece closed its banks and imposed capital controls on Monday in order to avoid a financial collapse as the failure of debt talks with the EU makes it difficult to honour a payment due on June 30. The banks will remain closed until July 6 and introduced a limit of EUR60 on daily cash withdrawals from cash machines after the European Central Bank froze its funding for Greek banks. Over the weekend, debt talks between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Eurozone leaders failed, and Greece decided to hold a referendum on July 5 on the bailout conditions proposed by international creditors.
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Capital controls imposed by Greece are justified on grounds of public policy, but they should be applied only for the shortest period possible, the European Commission said. "As guardian of the Treaties and with a view to safeguarding the integrity of the single market, the Commission has made an immediate, preliminary assessment of the Greek measures that introduce the controls and finds them to be, prima facie, justified," EU Commissioner for Financial Services Jonathan Hill said in a statement.
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A deal between Greece and its creditors is still possible despite the chaotic developments over the weekend, and the referendum called by the Greek government must be respected, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Monday. "Greece is a euro area member country and it must remain so," Moscovici asserted in an interview to French radio RTL.
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China's central bank announced further reduction of interest rates, its fourth move in around seven months, in a bid to boost economic growth, according to a statement on Saturday. The People's Bank of China cut one-year deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2%, while one-year benchmark lending rates were lowered by 25 basis points to 4.85%. The new rates came into effect on Sunday. The reserve requirement ratio for banks with sizable lending to farmers and small businesses has been cut by 50 basis points.
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A China-backed Asian development bank was officially founded in a signing ceremony in Beijing, state media reported, capping months of debate over which countries would participate and over China's growing financial clout abroad. China will be the single largest shareholder in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, according to the official Xinhua news agency, with the next biggest investors being India and Russia from among the 57 countries taking part. The AIIB aims to invest money in roads, ports, airports, energy provision and telecommunications in developing counties in Asia. Germany is the largest non-regional shareholder. Britain and France have also joined.
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Industrial output in Japan tumbled a seasonally adjusted 2.2% on month in May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.87% following the 1.2% increase in April. On a yearly basis, industrial production shed 4.0% - also shy of forecasts for a decline of 2.3% following the 0.1% fall in the previous month.
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Retail sales in Japan were up 3.0% on year in May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Monday - standing at JPY11.769 trillion. That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.2% following the 4.9% gain in April.
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IRELAND MAY RETAIL SALES UP 7.4% ON YEAR VS. 12.0% IN APRIL
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Foreign ministers from Iran and world powers interrupted talks on a nuclear deal in Vienna on Sunday, with EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini saying that ministers will resume negotiations only once gaps have been bridged in lower-level talks. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would resume negotiations on Wednesday, the day after the deadline that Iran and the group of the five UN veto powers and Germany have set themselves for reaching the agreement, Iranian media reported.
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The Tunisian government said it would close down 80 mosques accused of instigating violence as part of tougher security measures, a day after a gunman rampaged through a beach resort in Sousse killing 38 people, mainly foreign tourists.
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The man suspected of beheading his employer and attacking a gas plant in south-eastern France has confessed, AFP news agency reported Sunday, citing sources close to the investigation. Yassin Salhi, 35, admitted to decapitating his boss and placing the head on a fence at the plant belonging to US chemicals company Air Products in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, on Friday. Salhi, a deliveryman for the company, then rammed his car into gas canisters on the site, causing an explosion. French authorities called it a "terrorist" attack.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
26 Nov 2015 14:42
