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High-yielding currencies, led by the Australian dollar, rose on Tuesday as investors added to risky trades amid strong gains in commodity prices and expectations of further interest rate increases in Australia.

European shares cut Tuesday's losses and rose as a turnaround in shares of Barclays boosted UK banks and U.S. stock futures extended gains.

The promise of a solid open on Wall Street after Wal-Mart signaled the U.S. consumer is still keen to spend helped set aside worries about hefty bank writedowns on Tuesday while oil and metal prices rose unabated.

Shares in UK banks rose on Monday on hopes of higher dividends and after the British government decided to nationalize stricken mortgage lender Northern Rock.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Britain's Barclays Plc, has named Mark Bamford as head of global syndicate to replace Geert Vinken, who is retiring.

European shares rose on Monday as gains in British banks and oil stocks helped investors recover some of the sharp losses suffered in the last session.

Singapore's Temasek, Asia's pioneer sovereign wealth fund with stakes in Barclays and Standard Chartered, looks to be calling the top of the China stock boom and is scouting for cheaper targets in the West.

Temasek, the Singapore state investment agency, has rebuffed an approach from China's three leading banks for its 17 percent stake in UK-based Standard Chartered, a report said on Monday, sending shares in Standard Chartered more than 5 percent higher.

Barclays Plc, Britain's third-biggest bank, unveiled a 1.3 billion pound ($2.7 billion) writedown for losses on securities linked to the U.S. subprime housing crisis, less than was feared. In a surprise trading update on Thursday, the Barclays Capital investment bank unit said it would write down 500 million pounds for the July-September quarter and 800 million pounds for October.

British bank Barclays Plc categorically denied rumors it was about to announce a $10 billion writedown and see its top management quit, after the market talk sent its shares tumbling over 9 percent. There is absolutely no substance to those rumors, a spokesman for Britain's third biggest bank said when asked about a possible $10 billion writedown.

Shares in Barclays fell as much as 8 percent to hit two-and-a-half year lows on Friday amid market talk of funding worries and speculation it is telling analysts to trim profit forecasts.

European shares weakened again on Friday, as investors continued to sell down the banking and financial services sector as worries about the extent of exposure to U.S. home loans continued to weigh.

Europe's banks are considering their next move after ABN AMRO succumbed to the world's biggest bank takeover.

Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have lined up emergency funds of up to $30 billion from the U.S. Federal Reserve to bail out American clients caught up in the global credit crunch, a paper said.

Three banks led by Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland clinched victory in the battle for ABN AMRO on Wednesday, declaring their 70 billion euro ($99 billion) offer for the Netherland's biggest bank unconditional.

The investment bank chose to offer its advice to the unexpected winner of the largest banking takeover ever.

A Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium is set to claim victory in the takeover battle for ABN AMRO on Monday, shifting investor and market attention to the unprecedented integration challenge ahead.

Britain's Barclays is confident of an independent future, its chief executive said on Friday, dismissing speculation that its failure to win control of ABN AMRO could leave it vulnerable to takeover.

Britain's Barclays has conceded defeat in the seven-month battle for Dutch bank ABN AMRO, as rivals led by Royal Bank of Scotland move in to clinch the world's biggest bank takeover.

Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis won conditional clearance on Wednesday from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of parts of Dutch peer ABN AMRO.

A consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland could lower the level of acceptances needed to buy Dutch bank ABN AMRO to a simple majority, it said on Friday.

Royal Bank of Scotland Plc said on Tuesday it will establish a new global banking centre in Amsterdam if its joint bid for Dutch bank ABN AMRO is successful.

General Electric has offered 4 billion euros ($5.6 billion) to buy the property assets which Spanish bank Santander is selling to fund its bid for parts of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, newspapers reported on Friday.

A Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium will be given Dutch Finance Ministry approval later on Monday for its bid to take over Dutch bank ABN AMRO, a source close to the deal said.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO NV reiterated its 2007 earnings per share target of 2.30 euros ($3.19) on Monday despite current market turmoil and said it has very limited exposure to the subprime market.

A Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium will most likely buy ABN AMRO as Barclays' rival offer for the Dutch bank has little chance of matching the consortium's bid financially, ABN's chief executive told Dutch TV on Sunday.

Barclays won shareholder support today for its €62 billion (£42 billion) bid to acquire ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, but said that it was not committed to a deal at any price.

Northern Rock Plc's share price plunge after needing a lifeline from the Bank of England has turned the mortgage lender into a stricken target, more likely than ever to fall prey to a takeover bid.

Britain's Barclays said its investment bank arm traded profitably last month and its prospects remain strong, despite the credit market turmoil, but the bank's offer for ABN AMRO could be beaten.