MARKETS / FINANCE

Olympus Corp announced on Wednesday that its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa had stepped down over media reports of a widening scandal, as sources said Japan's main securities watchdog was looking into the 92-year-old firm's dubious acquisition deals.

The Bank of Japan is likely to debate easing monetary policy further at a meeting on Thursday after the yen rose to a record high and doubts mounted over whether Europe can forge a clear plan to tackle the euro zone debt crisis, sources said.

Chotubhai Raghani's fields in a dry, salty strip of Indian coastline on the Arabian Sea never yielded much wheat but he feels like a lucky man now he's started selling them at a juicy markup.

Spot gold rose nearly 1 percent on Wednesday to its highest level in more than a month, as safe-haven demand returned on growing doubts over a resolution to the Eurozone debt crisis ahead of a key European Union summit later in the day.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. has declared force majeure on concentrate sales agreements from its strike-hit Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the Arizona-based firm said on Wednesday.

It's festival season in India, and that means sweets -- often garnished with edible silver leaf for that final gourmet touch.

Many small investors in China have turned to gold as high inflation threatens to erode wealth in the world's second-largest economy, leading to small gold exchanges springing up all over the country.

Japan's main securities watchdog is looking into past Olympus M&A deals, focusing on whether the company made appropriate financial disclosures about them, two sources familiar with the matter said.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, said on Wednesday it would consider buying back shares after reporting a 23 percent jump in third-quarter operating profit and sticking to its 2011 outlook.

Japanese media interest has been muted, regulators are mostly mum and many politicians seem unaware that anything is amiss.

Prospects for a comprehensive deal to resolve the euro zone debt crisis at a summit on Wednesday look dim, with deep disagreement remaining on critical aspects of the potential agreement, including how to give the region's bailout fund greater firepower.

Brazil on Tuesday rejected the idea of buying European bonds to help ease the euro zone's debt crisis, casting doubt on a plan for major emerging market economies to offer fresh funds for the continent's rescue.

German Chancellor Angel Merkel looks set to win a parliamentary vote on Wednesday on boosting the firepower of the euro zone rescue fund with a large majority, bolstering her negotiating strength ahead of a crunch EU summit.

Nomura Holdings <8604.T>, Japan's largest investment bank, is planning major cost cuts that will like have the biggest impact on its loss-making European operations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Private sector wage deals rose 2.6 percent in the three months to September, lagging well behind the inflation rate of 5.2 percent, while the pay of most public sector workers remained frozen.

Amazon.com Inc shocked investors with a far weaker-than-expected outlook for the crucial holiday season quarter as it spent heavily on its new Kindle Fire tablet computer.

Medtronic Inc has asked software security experts to investigate the safety of its insulin pumps, as a new claim surfaced that at least one of its devices could be hacked to dose diabetes patients with potentially lethal amounts of insulin.

Stocks fell on Tuesday on doubts European leaders can agree on a plan to end the euro zone debt crisis, while major corporations disappointed investors with their outlooks.

The Bank of Japan will likely debate easing monetary policy further on Thursday given the yen's renewed spike to record highs and growing doubts that European leaders will calm markets with a clear plan to rein in the region's debt crisis.

Network equipment maker F5 Networks Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results as product sales jumped 20 percent, and forecast a strong fiscal 2012 revenue, sending its shares up 8 percent in after-hours trading.

A damages expert asserted Trust Company of the West is owed $81.7 million in royalties due to trade secret theft as the high-profile civil case pitting the asset mangement firm against its former chief investment officer Jeffrey Gundlach resumed on Tuesday.

Medtronic Inc has asked software security experts to investigate the safety of its insulin pumps, as a new claim surfaced that at least one of its devices could be hacked to dose diabetes patients with potentially lethal amounts of insulin.

Broadcom Corp warned revenue could fall as much as 13 percent this quarter due to broad- based weakness in demand, even in wireless, where it supplies chips for Apple Inc products such as the iPhone.

Regulators are considering easing a proposed rule so that fewer hedge fund advisers would have to hand over troves of confidential data to the government, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

Groupon Inc is seeking an initial public offering valuation of about five times its projected 2012 sales, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Regulators are considering easing a proposed rule so that fewer hedge fund advisers would have to hand over troves of confidential data to the government, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

Wall Street may have become more anxious about the prospects of a solution to the euro zone debt crisis, but investors are not betting on disaster at Wednesday's European summit.

A flare-up over the European Central Bank and political turmoil in Italy kept the euro zone on edge on Tuesday on the eve of a summit meant to confront the currency bloc's worsening sovereign debt crisis.

MetLife Inc , the largest U.S. life insurer, said the Federal Reserve blocked it from raising its dividend and buying back shares, a surprise to investors and analysts who had expected both as soon as this week.