Markets inured to Anglo-Russian friction: analysts

(Reuters) - Russian stocks shed 1 percent after Britain escalated its response to Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, the prime suspect in the fatal poisoning last year of emigre Alexander Litvinenko.




State-controlled oil firm Rosneft scrapped a $2 billion Eurobond, blaming volatile markets and preferring to wait to refinance some of its $22 billion in short-term debt.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Russian Stocks End Four-Day Gain as U.K. Expels Diplomats; Gazprom Falls

(Bloomberg) -- Russian stocks dropped for the first
time in five days after the U.K. expelled four Russian
diplomats, adding to political tensions between the two
countries. OAO Gazprom led the retreat.

``Politics is certainly affecting sentiment this morning,''
said Julian Rimmer, head of sales trading at UralSib Financial
Corp. in London.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Bank of America Earnings Trail as Citigroup, JPMorgan, Merrill Go Abroad

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. does more
business in the U.S. than any of its competitors, and that's
eroding returns for shareholders of the Charlotte, North
Carolina-based company.

Demand for financial services is increasing three times as
fast outside the U.S., fueled by companies and investors in
Brazil, China, India and Russia. While Bank of America operates
in 45 countries, they produce only 13 percent of its revenue.
That's puny compared with Citigroup Inc., which derives almost
half its sales from abroad and ranks among the biggest banks in
Mexico, Poland and South Korea.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Russia's New Oil Export Pipeline to Cut Supply to Central Europe, PVM Says

(Bloomberg) -- A new Russian crude oil export
pipeline may cut supplies to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia,
Germany and some other central European countries, PVM Oil
Associates GmbH said.

Russia plans to build a link that will deliver at least 1
million barrels of oil a day for export by tanker from the port
of Primorsk on the Baltic Sea. The pipeline will also reduce
supplies of Urals, Russia's major export blend of oil, to
refiners in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic,
said PVM's Managing Director Johannes Benigni.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

White Sugar Gains on Speculation Weather Will Reduce Output in Europe

(Bloomberg) -- White sugar advanced in London,
heading for a weekly gain, on speculation adverse weather
throughout Europe may reduce sugar-beet crops.

Rain has affected sugar-beet growing areas of the U.K.,
France and Germany in recent weeks, with flooding expected in
several areas, according to Woburn, Massachusetts-based weather
forecaster Meteorlogix LLC. Drought in eastern Ukraine and
southern Russia may have damaged crops there, the forecaster
said yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Hydro OGK, Russian Power Utility, Plans London Listing in 2008, CEO Says

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Hydro OGK, Russia's largest
hydropower producer, plans to sell shares in London and Moscow
in the second half of next year, aiming to become the world's
biggest publicly traded renewable energy company.

Hydro, able to generate more power than California, plans
to double its installed capacity by the end of the next decade
as Russia cuts its reliance on fossil fuels, said Vyacheslav
Sinyugin, Hydro's chief executive officer.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BMW June vehicle sales leap 15.1 pct to record

(Reuters) -



FRANKFURT, July 6 - Vehicle sales at BMW jumped 15.1 percent in June to a record 150,285 units as brisk demand in China and Russia complemented double-digit growth in western Europe, the world's biggest premium carmaker said.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Gazprom-Shell Venture Tests Russia's First Liquefied-Gas Processing Plant

(Bloomberg) -- An OAO Gazprom and Royal Dutch Shell
Plc joint venture said they started testing a liquefied natural
gas plant at Sakhalin, eastern Russia, a further step toward the
country's first LNG export sales, scheduled for 2008.

The LNG facility at the Sakhalin-2 project will be
commissioned, or tested, using gas from Shell's LNG tanker
Granosa, which docked at the plant's jetty in Prigorodnoye
earlier today, the Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. venture said
in a statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russian Consumer-Price Growth Acceleraqted 1 Percent in June on Food Costs

(Bloomberg) -- Russian consumer prices rose 1 percent
in June from the month before, the Federal Statistics Service
said, confirming yesterday's comments by central bank Chairman
Sergey Ignatiev.

Monthly consumer-price growth accelerated from 0.6 percent in
May on food prices, the Moscow-based statistics office said in an
e-mailed statement today. The median forecast of 17 economists
surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 0.6 percent rate.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-Rexam to buy Russian drinks can maker Rostar

(Reuters) - Rexam, the world's biggest maker of drinks cans, said on
Wednesday it was buying the business from En+ Group Limited, the
parent of Russian aluminium group Rusal.




The deal is expected to cover Rexam's cost of capital,
including synergies, and to be earnings-enhancing in 2008, Rexam
said it a statement.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Danone biscuit break to speed up acquisition hunt

(Reuters) - Earlier on Tuesday, the world's biggest cookie maker Kraft
Foods agreed to pay 5.3 billion euros in
cash for the second-largest biscuit operation to boost the U.S.
group's European and Asian presence.




Analysts said the deal will wipe out Danone's 2.9 billion
euro debt and give it the money to chase acquisition targets
such as Dutch baby food group Numico , or raise its
stake in Russian food group Wimm-Bill-Dann , buy out
Chinese partner Wahaha or raise its holding in Japan's Yakult
.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Danone open over plans for cash from biscuit sale

(Reuters) - Danone and Kraft announced on Tuesday they were in exclusive
talks. Kraft's offer could lead to a definitive agreement during
the last quarter of 2007. It excludes Danone stakes in biscuits
businesses in Latin America and in India.




Some analysts have said Danone could buy Dutch food group
Numico , Russian consumer foods group Wimm-Bill-Dann
, in which Danone owns an 18.4 percent stake, or its
remaining stake in its Chinese Wahaha beverages joint venture.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Aeroflot to pull out of Alitalia bidding - I'fax

(Reuters) - "The decision in principle has already been taken. The chief
executive of Aeroflot will inform Italy's Finance Ministry about
the Russian carrier's withdrawal from the acquisition of the
state-held shares in Alitalia," the source said.




An Aeroflot spokeswoman, however, told Italy's ANSA news
agency that the Russian airline is going ahead with its offer
for Alitalia and that its director general presented a report on
the subject to the carrier's new board elected on Saturday.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Aeroflot to pull out of Alitalia bidding - I'fax

(Reuters) - Aeroflot has already denied one report by Interfax that it
had pulled out of the bidding for the Italian government's 49.9
percent stake but its lukewarm enthusiasm has added to
investors' fears that the sale could collapse.




Aeroflot, which is backed by Italian bank UniCredit
, has expressed concern about the price tag and about
Alitalia's finances, while a 30 percent shareholder in the
Russian firm has said he is "negative" about the deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Highveld board rejects Evraz minorities offer

(Reuters) - The board of South Africa's Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp advised minority shareholders to reject an offer by majority owned, Russia's Evraz Group, to buy up remaining shares, Highveld said.

The board accepted a valuation by an independent adviser of the firm at 93 rand per share, well above the offer by Evraz of $11.40 or 82.99 rand, according to a circular to shareholders posted on Highveld's website late on Tuesday.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Highveld Steel sees H1 headline EPS up 55-65 pct

(Reuters) - South Africa's Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation said on Monday it expected its half-year headline and basic earnings per share to jump by up to 65 percent.

Shares in Highveld, which is majority owned by Russia's Evraz Group, soared as much as 3.4 percent after it released the trading statement saying its headline EPS to end-June would rise by 55-65 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Putin Sees `New Balance of Power'; Seeks to Make Ruble a Reserve Currency

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
assailed the dominance of the global economy by a small group of
developed countries and called on them to recognize a ``new
balance of power'' in the world.

``The new architecture of economic relations requires a
completely new approach,'' Putin said at the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum today. Russia intends to become an
alternative global financial center and to make the ruble a
reserve currency for central banks, he said.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Aeroflot will revive $2 bln deal with Boeing: paper

(Reuters) - In March, Aeroflot announced plans to buy 22 planes from rival producer Airbus despite the fact that the first A350 aircraft may be delivered much later than 2010 - a deadline that Boeing said it would be able to meet.




Kommersant cited industry sources as saying the deal with Boeing will be revived at Russia's landmark economic forum in St Petersburg on Saturday with Boeing and Aeroflot signing a deal for the delivery of planes.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Sistema's Yevtushenkov Says He Still Wants Link-Up With Deutsche Telekom

(Bloomberg) -- Russian billionaire Vladimir
Yevtushenkov's AFK Sistema is still interested in linking up with
Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest phone company by sales.

``Deutsche Telekom is interesting for us, but there are no
negotiations now on either the purchase of a stake or other forms
of economic cooperation,'' Yevtushenkov said in an interview.
``We are now waiting for the decision of the German government.''


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Russian Benchmark Stocks Fall for Third Day, Led by Gazprom Neft, Surgut

(Bloomberg) -- Russian stocks fell for a third day
after a drop in Chinese stocks and oil prices. OAO Gazprom Neft
and OAO Surgutneftegaz led the retreat.

The ruble-denominated Micex Index declined 1.3 percent to
1504.72 at 1:14 p.m. in Moscow, heading for its lowest close this
year. Four stocks advanced, 25 retreated and one was unchanged.
The dollar-denominated RTS Index dropped 1.2 percent to 1716.74.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News