MARKETS / FINANCE

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as a renewed promise of extended low interest rates from the Federal Reserve and its relatively positive view of the U.S. economy enticed investors into risky assets.

A Republican lawmaker requested a congressional hearing on a bankruptcy examiner's report on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , saying the findings cast doubts on the Federal Reserve's supervisory role.

The stock market continues to rally on the bullish momentum generated from favorable central bank policies from the U.S. and Japan.

The tussle over German generic drugs maker Ratiopharm is drawing to a close as the three remaining contenders square off in the final round of bidding, sources close to the deal told Reuters on Wednesday.

A top bank regulator said on Wednesday that the jury's still out about whether consumers want controversial overdraft protection that can charge them large fees for accidentally overdrawing their accounts.

Thrifts did not engage in regulatory arbitrage, nor were they a cause of the financial crisis, the top U.S. thrift regulator said on Wednesday.

A consortium led by Blackstone Group has agreed to invest about $600 million in a Chinese agricultural company ahead of its planned Hong Kong listing, sources with knowledge of the deal said on Wednesday.

Ever thought that your cotton T-shirt could monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyse your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer's day? Or have you thought of a pillow that monitors your brain waves, or a solar-powered dress that can charge your ipod or MP4 player? Well, all this could soon be a reality, thanks to new-age cotton threads.

Vedanta Resources may demerge its aluminium division. According to a report appeared in The Independent in UK, the new firm will be the world's fourth biggest aluminium player, behind Russia's United Company Rusal, America's Alcoa and China's Chalco.

Oil cartel, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has decided to keep oil production quota unchanged in its meeting today in Vienna. At present, the members of OPEC produce 24.845 million barrels per day and decided to keep this unchanged, according to a report citing delegates.

Despite the high price of gold, India continues to be one of the largest exporters of gold jewellery items in the world. India's export of gold jewellery products in February 2010 saw a big jump of 37.51% compared to the same period last year.

Producer prices fell more steeply than expected in February, posting their biggest drop in seven months as energy costs tumbled, according to a government report on Wednesday that pointed to scant inflation pressures.

Experts in bullion will always tell you that if you watch the hedging pattern of gold miners, you can predict which way the yellow metal prices will move. So, what is gold hedging? Gold hedging is when a gold producer contractually locks in a gold price to be paid in the future when their gold is produced, regardless of whether the gold price in the future is higher or lower than the agreed upon contractual gold price.

Wall Street rose in early trading on Wednesday as a renewed promise of extended low interest rates from the Federal Reserve and its relatively positive view of the economy enticed investors into risky assets.

Wall Street was set to open higher on Wednesday, continuing a rise in global equities as a renewed promise of extended low interest rates from the Federal Reserve enticed investors into riskier assets.

Dubai World will offer banks a single proposal to repay in full the $26 billion debt it is renegotiating, with interest likely linked to LIBOR, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday defended the central bank's supervision of smaller banks, which it would lose in regulatory reform proposals, in a hearing before a congressional panel.

Korea Life Insurance Co shares closed up 8 percent in heavy trading on their debut on Wednesday, signaling keen demand ahead of bigger rival Samsung Life's planned $4 billion IPO in May.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday on par with global stocks as a renewed promise of extended low interest rates from the Federal Reserve enticed investors into riskier assets.

The Bank of Japan loosened monetary policy on Wednesday in a split vote that suggested the central bank would struggle in the future to meet government demands for easier monetary conditions.

Chinese firms selling advertising space on Google's search pages have demanded clarity about the search giant's plans in China, as speculation increases over Google's future in the world's largest Internet market.

It's early days, but speculation is already building that HSBC may participate in the auction for a $3.9 billion stake in Korea Exchange Bank , South Korea's sixth-largest lender.

The World Bank raised its 2010 growth and inflation forecasts for China and recommended a tighter monetary policy as well as a stronger exchange rate to restrain inflation expectations and asset bubbles.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 all up around 0.2 percent.

World stocks climbed on Wednesday in response to a relatively optimistic outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve combined with a pledge to keep interest rates low.

Simon Property Group Inc is weighing a higher bid for General Growth Properties Inc after the No. 2 U.S. mall owner came up with a rival plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a standalone company, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Technology plays led Asian shares higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve maintained its pledge to hold interest rates near zero, which kept the dollar near one-month lows against major currencies.

Amazon.com Inc said that John Doerr, a renowned venture capitalist who, early on, funded many of the Internet's biggest names, will not run for reelection to the board at the company's next shareholder meeting.

Stocks rose to a fresh 17-month high on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve held benchmark rates near zero and maintained its pledge to keep them low for an extended period.