Economic News

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China has set an initial target of 4.6 pct for consumer price index (CPI) growth this year, while gross domestic product growth is targeted at 8 pct, according to a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Xu Lin, a director-general at the NDRC, said CPI growth in 2007 was near 5 pct. He said the final 2008 economic targets will be released ...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's gross domestic product (GDP) is seen growing by 10.2 pct this year to 27.93 trln yuan, while consumer price index (CPI) is rising 4.4 pct, according to a government think-tank, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It cited a research report from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as predicting that China's economy will continue to be strong, although growth co ...

COLOMBO (Thomson Financial) - Sri Lanka's main donors Saturday voiced concern over mounting bloodshed ahead of a Japanese peace envoy's visit as the military said at least 74 Tamil Tiger rebels and two soldiers were killed in intense fighting. Japan, the United States, the European Union and Norway, expressed deep concern over Colombo's recent move to scrap the February 2002 truce with the rebels ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK short sterling futures -- a gauge of interest rate expectations -- fell after the Bank of England announced it was leaving borrowing costs on hold at 5.50 pct. Though the decision had been broadly expected, with 28 out of 36 economists polled by Thomson Financial News forecasting no change, there had been a growing feeling in the market that the central bank might  ...

(Updating to add analyst comment) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK short sterling futures -- a gauge of interest rate expectations -- fell after the Bank of England announced it was leaving borrowing costs on hold at 5.50 pct. Though the decision had been broadly expected, with 28 out of 36 economists polled by Thomson Financial News forecasting no change, there had been a growing feeling in the  ...

SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Korea, the country's central bank, is likely to keep rates on hold throughout the first half of the year as it maintains a delicate balancing act between the need to promote growth while keeping inflation in check, economists said Thursday. External uncertainty from the global credit turmoil has made the central bank less optimistic about the country's grow ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Gold eased below 870 usd as market players continued to book profits following the precious metal's sharp move upwards from the beginning of this year. "We're seeing profit-taking by and large," said UBS analyst Robin Bhar. "It's gone up a lot in a short space of time so a correction is quite healthy at this stage." At 1.16 pm, spot gold was tradi ...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The day's twin rate verdicts brought the pound some shortlived relief; as both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged in their respective jurisdictions. The pound, which has taken a battering so far in the new year, had been expected to fall further if the BoE delivered a back-to-back rate cut. Expectations of a cut had been gr ...

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Trichet said the ECB is ready to take pre-emptive action to counter mounting euro zone inflation risks if necessary, adding recent data fully confirmed upside risks to the inflation outlook. Inflation will remain "significantly" above 2.0 pct in the coming months in the region and will only moderate gradually during this year, he said. Trichet said the c ...

(updating to add comments on possible second-round effects, wage negotiations, financial market turbulence) FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Trichet said the ECB is ready to take pre-emptive action to counter mounting euro zone inflation risks if necessary, adding recent data fully confirmed upside risks to the inflation outlook. Inflation will remain "significantly" above 2.0 pct in th ...