Singapore Dollar to Rise 10 Percent to Record $1.38, BNP Paribas Predicts

(Bloomberg) -- The Singapore dollar may rise 10
percent to a record in a year as an influx of tourists and
bankers supports economic growth, BNP Paribas SA said.

The currency may reach S$1.38 per dollar by June 30, passing
the record of S$1.3835 reached in 1995, as the Monetary Authority
of Singapore seeks gains to curb inflation, said Thio Chin Loo,
senior foreign-exchange strategist in Singapore at France's
largest bank by market value.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Price pressures, merger costs hit Alcatel-Lucent

(Reuters) - Alcatel-Lucent, created in December 2006 by the takeover of U.S.-based Lucent by Alcatel of France, has been struggling to win the confidence of customers spooked by uncertainty over the merged group's technology and product choices.




It already warned in April that sales could fall short of earlier targets.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

French CAC 40 Index Increases; France Telecom Gains on Recommendation

(Bloomberg) -- French stocks rose, paced by
Michelin & Cie. and France Telecom SA.

The CAC 40 Index advanced 19.77, or 0.4 percent, to 5663.73
at 10:45 a.m. in Paris. The SBF 120 Index also added 0.4
percent. The CAC sank 5.3 percent last week for its biggest
weekly loss since the five days ending March 28, 2003.


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France's Sarkozy wants Strauss-Kahn as IMF head

(Reuters) - "I want Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be France's candidate at the head of the IMF because he is the best suited to this post," Sarkozy was quoted as saying.




Read more at Reuters.com Business News

WRAPUP 1-Chavez drives Exxon, ConocoPhillips from Venezuela

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips decided
to quit their oil operations in the OPEC nation after they
failed to strike a deal with the government to stay in
multibillion-dollar projects that the anti-U.S. leader decreed
should be taken over.




Four other oil majors -- Chevron Corp. , Norway's
Statoil , Britain's BP Plc and France's Total
-- signed pacts that allow Venezuela to increase its
stake to at least 60 percent in projects worth $30 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Stocks May Decline, Paced by Barclays, BNP Paribas, BAE Systems

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks may decline as U.S.
equities retreated for a second day. Barclays Plc, Britain's
third-largest bank, and BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest, may
decline after their U.S.-traded securities dropped.

Iberdrola SA may be active after the Spanish power company
agreed to buy U.S.-based Energy East Corp. for $4.5 billion. Shares
of Roche Holding AG may move after the company offered to buy
Ventana Medical Systems Inc. of the U.S. for about $3 billion.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 3-France sells 5 pct of France Tel for 2.65 bln euros

(Reuters) - PARIS, June 25 - France sold 5 percent of France
Telecom's capital on Monday, raising 2.65 billion
euros , which the finance ministry said would be
used to reduce the country's debt.




In a statement, the finance ministry confirmed that the
state had placed 130 million France Telecom shares in the
market at 20.40 euros each, and said that after the sale it
still owned 27.4 percent of the French telecom operator's
capital.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Stocks Decline; France Telecom, LSE, Akzo Nobel Shares Slide

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks dropped for a third
day, led by France Telecom SA as the French government sells as
much as 3.8 billion euros ($5.1 billion) of the nation's largest
phone company.

London Stock Exchange Group Plc, which agreed to buy Borsa
Italiana SpA on June 23 for 1.63 billion euros ($2.2 billion),
paced the decline after the bourse was put on review by Moody's
Investors Services for a possible downgrade of its debt rating.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

European Stocks Drop on Concern Higher Rates, Oil Prices May Hurt Earnings

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks dropped on
speculation increasing borrowing costs and higher oil prices
will weigh on corporate earnings.

Retail shares fell after Tesco Plc, the U.K.'s largest
supermarket operator, predicted a ``tougher year'' because of
rising interest rates and growing competition. Air France-KLM
Group and British Airways Plc, among the most sensitive to
changes in the price of oil, led travel and leisure stocks to
the lowest in more than two months.


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European Commodity Stocks, Rio Tinto, Total May Advance; RWE May Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks may gain for a third
day, led by mining and energy companies as prices for copper and
aluminum advanced and oil traded near a nine-month high.

Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest mining company,
rose in Australian trading. U.S.-traded securities of Total SA,
Europe's largest refiner, ended higher than their close in France.


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European shares set to jump as global stocks bounce

(Reuters) - Soaring bond yields had raised concerns that higher borrowing costs would slow takeover activity and profit growth -- two engines of the market's spring rally.




Financial bookmakers expect UK's FTSE 100 index to gain 0.4 percent, Germany's DAX is seen up 0.8 percent and France's CAC is seen rising 0.7 percent.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

UPDATE 1-M.Stanley eyes growth in France, hotels business

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley director Charlotte Kalaidjian said the bank
aimed to raise the total assets under management it has in
France to up to 9 billion euros from 2.7 billion
at present.




"We are targeting between 7.7 to 9 billion euros of assets
under management over the next three years. Alternative
investment products will be our main drivers of growth in
France," she told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

EDF Reports Nuclear Safety Incident at Nogent Reactor in Northern France

(Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA, Europe's
biggest power generator, reported a safety incident at unit 2 of
its Nogent nuclear power plant.

The June 8 event involved unauthorized repairs to a
circuit-breaker in the non-nuclear part of the reactor, Paris-
based EDF said in a statement today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

German Power Retains Premium Over France on Wind, Hydroelectric Production

(Bloomberg) -- Forecasts for low wind speeds, which
may reduce production from turbines, helped keep German power at
a premium over prices in France, where hydroelectric plants may
boost output.

German baseload power for delivery on the next working day
rose 1.6 percent to 48.25 euros ($64.41) a megawatt hour,
compared with a last price of 47.50 euros on June 8 for power
delivered today, according to prices on Bloomberg from the
energy broker GFI Group Inc. French power traded at 33.50 euros.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 4-France promises to stick to EU budget pledge

(Reuters) - PARIS, June 6 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy
said France would stick to its commitment to cut debt in line
with European Union guidelines, and would do so via a
combination of economic growth and savings.




"I will never let anyone say we don't meet our European
commitments with regard to controlling public spending,"
Sarkozy said in an interview with the daily Le Figaro published
on its Web site on Wednesday.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Eurotunnel Averts Bankruptcy as Shareholders Approve Debt Reduction Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Eurotunnel averted bankruptcy as
shareholders of the operator of the rail link between France and
Britain overwhelmingly backed a debt reduction plan.

Investors agreed to exchange about 87 percent of the shares
of Eurotunnel SA and Eurotunnel Plc, the company's French and
British arms, for the stock of the reorganized company, France's
Financial Markets Authority said today on its Web site.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

ETF Securities platinum fund holds 11,942 ounces

(Reuters) - London-based ETF Securities Ltd. said on Tuesday its exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on physical platinum has attracted investment equal to 11,942 ounces of the metal since its launch on April 24.

Total investment in its five physically backed ETFs based on precious metals and listed in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and France totalled $53.5 million, Nik Bienkowski, head of listings and research at the company, told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Markets on China vigil as G8 avoids FX, surprises

(Reuters) - The two-day meeting, which ended on Saturday, was
overshadowed by Friday's surprise move by China to widen the
yuan's trading band and raise interest rates ahead of key
U.S.-China talks on trade tensions next week.




U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was absent from the
meeting in Potsdam and no minister attended from France -- where
President Nicolas Sarkozy had appointed a new cabinet only on
Friday -- making the meeting a low-key affair.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News