Banking & Finance News

China's economy will escape a double dip and enjoy gross domestic product growth this year of more than 9 per cent, Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said in remarks published on Friday. In an interview posted on the currency regulator's website, www.safe.gov.cn, Yi said expectations of a stronger yuan had diminished and there was no basis for sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate. China would stick to the principle of diversifying the currency composition ...

Australian bank lending rose in June, according to a central bank statement. Loans provided by banks and other finance companies gained 0.2 per cent from May, when they increased 0.5 per cent, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in Sydney today. The median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.4 per cent gain. Lending increased 2.8 per cent from a year earlier. Loans to consumers to buy houses gained 0.4 percent from May and ...

The Philippines plans to issue new and longer-dated dollar-denominated debt this year in exchange for older and shorter-dated notes as part of the government’s plan to lengthen debt maturity and manage liabilities, Treasurer Roberto Tan said today. The government has received unsolicited offers from banks seeking to help with the deal and “will study them,” Tan said in a mobile phone message. “When the decision is made, we will issue a request for proposal,” the treasurer said. The ...

Jordan's Housing Bank for Trade and Finance posted a 68 per cent rise in first-half net profit to 48.9 million dinars ($68.8 million) against the same period last year, released results showed on Thursday Financial statements obtained by Reuters also showed that assets at the bank, the country's second-largest lender, had risen 2.2 per cent by the end of June 2010 to 6.22 billion dinars ($8.77 billion) compared with the end of 2009. Gross income rose 4.5 per cent ...

Egypt's central bank left its key overnight interest rates on hold on Thursday, its seventh pause since it stopped lowering rates in September, the central bank said on its website. It kept the overnight lending rate steady at 9.75 per cent and the deposit rate at 8.25 per cent, the website said. It also left the discount rate unchanged at 8.5 per cent. All 10 economists in a Reuters poll this week forecast that the bank's Monetary Policy Committee ...

Dubai-based Mashreq's second-quarter net profit more than halved from the previous year as the lender booked higher provisions against bad loans. The lender, Dubai's largest bank by market value, made a net profit of Dh202 million ($55.01 million) in the three months to June 30, based on Reuters calculations, down from Dh434.9 million in the same period last year. Mashreq said first-half net profit for the year stood at Dh453 million in a statement on Thursday. ...

Egypt's M2 money supply rose to 917.5bon Egyptian pounds ($161bn) at the end of June from 896.0bn at the end of May, the central bank said on Thursday. This indicates a 10.4 per cent increase from June, 2009. ...

The Kuwait Food Co (Americana) said on Thursday its managers did not know of any offers to buy half of its shares. The Kharafi Group company said in a statement to the bourse its "executive management is not informed about this". It did not elaborate, but it said it was reacting to media reports about the topic. Americana's shares are up 16 per cent this week. Independent analyst Ali al-Nimesh said the announcement did not tell the ...

Net profits at Jordan Islamic Bank, the country's largest Islamic lender, dropped 28.9 pct to 14.68 million dinars ($20.7 m), the bank's financial statements showed on Thursday.The balance sheet obtained by Reuters also showed second-quarter net profits fell to 7.628 m dinars from 12.57 m dinars posted a year earlier. Net income in the first half of the year was 34.5 m dinars against 37.272 m dinars in the same period last year, the statement showed.The Islamic lender's ...

Cooling firm Tabreed falls in early trade on Thursday after it asked its board of directors to approve a reduction in the firm's share capital.Tabreed drops 2.1 per cent. Dubai index edges 0.07 per cent lower to 1,512 points."There has been a balance between buying and selling powers lately and material upside will only become visible upon a pick up in buying interest and a break above the resistance at 1570," Shuaa Capital says. Other markets are also ...