IBT Staff Reporter

The dollar traded little changed against the euro and a major currency basket on Tuesday, paring some of its earlier gains due to data showing U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in two years.

Japan's Resona Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it would likely beat its first-half profit forecast by 20 percent, helped by strong commissions and lower credit costs, and said it had no direct exposure to the troubled U.S. subprime mortgage market.

Indian No. 2 listed real estate firm Unitech Ltd said on Tuesday its consolidated quarterly profit quadrupled as it sold more houses and commercial properties in the booming economy.

Leading negotiating nations are closer than ever before to concluding successfully the arduous Doha round of world trade talks, India's trade minister said on Tuesday, adding an end-2008 deadline could be reached.

Japan's jobless rate rose unexpectedly last month, reinforcing expectations the Bank of Japan will delay its next rate rise, although household spending jumped more than forecast.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Japan's largest bank, said it would write down the value of subprime-related investments by as much as 30 billion yen ($260 million) -- six times more than previously announced.

Shares in Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd plunged 12 percent -- their biggest one-day fall in 20 years -- after U.S. authorities recommended it stop some trials of cholesterol-lowering TAK-475, one of its most promising drug candidates.

HSBC Holdings Plc helped start a group of indexes that includes benchmarks for global Islamic and Middle East conventional bonds to encourage trading as a global credit crunch delays sales and doubles spreads.

Sun Life Financial Inc's third-quarter earnings rose a slightly better-than-expected 7 percent, driven by its U.S. life, mutual funds and employee benefit businesses and despite a stronger Canadian dollar, the company said on Tuesday.

UBS AG reported its first quarterly loss in five years after hefty writedowns on subprime-related investments, but said it expects to turn in a group profit in the last quarter.

The largest U.S. mobile service provider AT&T Inc and smaller rival T-Mobile USA revealed new handsets on Monday to attract a growing number of consumers who like to send e-mails or text messages.

A computer developed for the world's poor children, dubbed the $100 laptop, has reached a milestone: It is now selling for $200.

Internet media company Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday it is adding media-playing features, large file transfers, new languages and other tools to its instant messaging service.

A Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week is no sure thing and officials are not seriously considering a half-point reduction in overnight rates, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday without citing sources.

Web search leader Google Inc is expected to announce advanced software and services enabling handset makers to bring Google-powered phones to market by mid-2008, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Turkish Cobra helicopters pounded Kurdish rebel positions near the Iraqi border on Tuesday and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Ankara's readiness to send troops over the frontier despite U.S. opposition.

Russia will file a claim to the gigantic mineral wealth of the Arctic seabed with the United Nations by the end of the year, Russia's natural resources minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

North Korea is on track to disable its nuclear program by the end of this year as its differences with the United States have mostly been resolved, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday.

Iran will not back down in a nuclear dispute with the West and is not interested in talks with the United States, its president said on Tuesday ahead of a previously unannounced visit by Russia's foreign minister.

U.S. State Department investigators looking into the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad last month offered immunity deals to Blackwater security guards, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Prices of existing single-family homes in the U.S. dropped further in August in their worst erosion since June 1991, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index. The index, which measures 10 major metropolitan areas has fallen a total of 5 percent year-over-year. Its worst decline was a 6.3 percent drop in 1991.

The dollar edged up from the previous day's record lows versus a basket of major currencies on Tuesday as investors marginally trimmed expectations the Federal Reserve will cut rates this week.

Oil fell more than a dollar on Tuesday, as profit-taking pulled the market down from record highs that were fuelled by a Mexican supply shut-down and a weak dollar.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday after a Wall Street Journal article cast doubt on the chances for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut on Wednesday.

Asian stocks and oil prices retreated from their peaks on Tuesday and the dollar halted its slide as investors held their fire ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting, where an interest rate cut is widely expected. European stocks also looked set for a weaker start,

Shares of BEA Systems were closed flat on Monday after the expiration of bid from enterprise software maker Oracle to acquire BEA.

Crude oil prices dropped below $93 a barrel on Tuesday, after hitting record highs a day earlier on concerns of production reductions in Mexico and record lows for the dollar.

The Fed is deciding between a quarter point interest rate reduction and no cut at all, with a half-point cut unlikely to be considered, according a report by the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting where policy makers are expected to make an a cut in interest rates.