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Asian stocks ended mostly higher Friday, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 bouncing back from a week dominated by selling, while share indexes in Taiwan and South Korea were fractionally higher as Taiwan Semiconductor and other chip makers rose on upbeat global demand data. Japan's Nikkei 225 Average ended down 0.5% at 16,091.73. The Tokyo Stock Price index, or Topix, fell 0.5% to 1,573.54. Japa ...

KUALA LUMPUR (XFN-ASIA) - Top officials from France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen will meet with Malaysian finance ministry officials to place a bid for troubled Malaysian automaker Proton, the Business Times reported citing unnamed sources. The two car manufacturers recently signed a letter of intent to evaluate and study possible cooperation. The first round of talks began in September. PSA Peugeot is ...

U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average extended its winning streak to a sixth session and set yet another record high, bolstered by a continued slide in crude-oil prices. For the week, the Dow rose 1.9%, the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.3%. Earlier stocks were weakened by a plunge in October housing starts. The Dow (DJI) rose 36 ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- The potential for more global consolidation among steel producers jacked up shares of U.S. producers Friday, spurred by a potential Russian buyout of U.S. Steel and a rival bid for Britain's Corus Group. U.S. Steel (X) shares jumped as much as 11% and were last up 8.6% in heavy volume, leading a 3% gain in the 15-stock SIG Steel Producers Index. (STQX) The biggest  ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Nymex Holdings Inc.'s initial public offering on Friday vaulted 125% into the record books as the top performing U.S. IPO since 2000. The commodities bourse (NMX) ended its 130-year run as a private, member-owned exchange with a big splash on Wall Street as the latest financial marketplace to tap into greater profit margins from electronic trading. Its added appeal co ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Wall Street ended a robust week on a quieter note Friday after the Commerce Department reported that housing construction fell to its lowest level in more than six years. The Dow Jones industrials rose moderately, managing a fourth straight record high close. The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index pulled back slightly, following a string of five straight advances for the ...

(Updates with full report) PARIS (AFX) - Share prices closed sharply lower after US data showed a steep drop in housing starts in October, raising fears that the American economic slowdown could prove more severe than many investors had expected, dealers said. The CAC-40 finished down 66.01 points or 1.2 pct at 5,439.71. On the week, the benchmark index fell 0.14 pct from last Friday's close. A ...

(updates with full report) FRANKFURT (AFX) - Shares closed lower as automotive losses offset gains by Infineon and Hypo Real Estate, dealers said. The DAX 30 index closed 26.98 points or 0.42 pct lower at 6,416.04, having moved between a low of 6,398.52 and a high of 6,452.39. The MDAX was down 61.39 points or 0.69 pct at 8,881.92 while the TecDAX stood at 702.15, down 6.19 points or 0.87 pct.  ...

(Updating with further details) LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares ended lower as a triple whammy of collapsing commodity prices, worse-than-expected US housing data and pre-weekend profit taking offset news of a counter bid for steel giant Corus, dealers said. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 62.9 points at 6,192.0, with its mid-cap peer off 119.0 at 10711.0. Final volume was light, with 2 ...

MINNEAPOLIS (AFX) - Uniform rental agency G&K Services Inc. said Friday it declared a quarterly dividend of four cents per share. The dividend is payable in cash on Jan. 2 to shareholders of record at Dec. 14. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.