IBT Staff Reporter

Vietnam, where gold price is much higher than rest of the world, is taking all initiatives to ensure good supply of the precious yellow metal. Last week, the Vietnamese government allowed businesses to re-start importing gold. The country had banned gold import some months back.

Under-pressure BP Plc is in talks with U.S. oil and gas company Apache Corp and other companies over potential asset sales, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday, as it weighs how to pay costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Japanese shares rose and the yen largely held its ground in early trade on Monday, with investors seemingly indifferent to a major election loss suffered by Japan's government over the weekend.

Banco Santander , Spain's biggest bank, is on the prowl for more acquisitions in Colombia and Peru as it presses ahead with its expansion across Latin America, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude exporter, will supply full contracted volumes of crude oil in August to at least two Asian term buyers, steady with July levels, industry sources said on Monday.

The Aussie dollar traded within a 50 point range between 0.8725 and 0.8775 for the majority of Friday's offshore session and opens this morning towards the top end at 0.8770.

Australia's top expert on HIV and AIDS has warned of a rolling holocaust facing the world as the pandemic kills two million people each year and many are denied treatment

The U.S. Federal Reserve's list of worries may be getting longer.

Preparations are underway for Barcelona's famous annual week long Festa Major, held from 15 to 21 August and including the Catholic Feast of the Assumption in the city's Gracia district.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have chemically tested seafood from the oil spill-marred Gulf of Mexico and found them to be free from contaminants.

The U.S. stock market landed at a technical crossroads following its best week in a year, yet the potential for positive earnings surprises beginning this week could give an edge to the bulls.

Europe's banking stress test included a haircut on German sovereign debt under certain conditions in its worst scenario, a German magazine reported.

Some business groups, upset about budget and regulatory policies they say are costing jobs, are accusing President Barack Obama of pursuing an agenda that is hurting the U.S. economic recovery.

Troubled state conglomerate Dubai World has invited creditors to a July 22 meeting to offer details on its proposed debt restructuring, the first such session to include all lenders since December last year.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it had renewed the Chinese operating license of Internet giant Google Inc, confirming an announcement made by the company on Friday.

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe said on Saturday she has not decided which way to vote on crucial financial reform legislation, with the most important thing being to get it right.

Bank of America Corp is beefing up its internal accounting controls after it incorrectly classified as much as $10.7 billion in short-term lending and repurchase deals for mortgage securities as sales, according to a letter filed on Friday with U.S. securities regulators.

It's too early to say the economic crisis in Germany has passed because considerable risks to the recovery remain, the head of the Federal Labour Office, Frank-Juergen Weise, was quoted as saying on Saturday. Weise told German newspaper Rheinpfalz am Sonntag that while developments on the labor market were better than expected, he was worried the economic crisis is being declared over, he sai...

Russian flagship airline Aeroflot expects to acquire 22 Boeing Dreamliners and 22 Airbus A350s by 2016 as it expands its fleet, CEO Vitaly Savelyev told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Iraq's oil minister said on Saturday he sees no impact from the massive oil spill at a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico on Iraq's current or future projects to develop its giant oilfields.

Crude oil futures finished the week on a positive note, tracking stocks upward after hitting the low for a month earlier in the week. The benchmark West Texas intermediate contract settled Friday at $76.09 a barrel, up 65 cents on the day. On Tuesday, the contract declined for the sixth session in a row, closing at $71.98, its first dip below $72 in a month.

Britain's ambassador to Lebanon said she regretted any offence caused by her blog praising Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, an early spiritual mentor of Hezbollah who died on Sunday.

China gave Google Inc approval to keep operating its Chinese search page, resolving a months-long censorship dispute that had threatened its future in the world's top Internet market.

Technical weekly Analysis for EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD and AUD/USD.

China's trade surplus in June topped expectations on surprising strength in exports that suggests the global economic recovery has remained on track despite worries about a fresh slowdown.

The U.S. economy will lose steam as the year progresses but will not slide back into recession, even though unemployment is unlikely to fall significantly, according to a survey released on Saturday.

U.S. regulators on Friday closed Home National Bank in Oklahoma and U.S.A. Bank in New York the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said.

The U.S. stock market landed at a technical crossroads following its best week in a year, yet the potential for positive earnings surprises beginning next week could give an edge to the bulls.

Wells Fargo & Co will no longer offer free checking for all new customers opening accounts at the bank, a company spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.