COPPER

Barrick Gold Corp has agreed to buy Equinox Minerals for about C$7.3 billion ($7.68 billion), topping a bid from China's Minmetals Resources <1208.HK> in a big bet on soaring copper demand.

US stocks rallied in early trade on Wednesday as upbeat earnings from major technology companies’ boosted sentiment for corporate-profit trends.

Major U.S. stock indexes jumped more than 1 percent at the open on Wednesday as upbeat earnings from major technology companies’ boosted sentiment for corporate-profit trends.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: Williams Companies, Freeport-McMoRan, Advanced Micro Devices, salesforce.com, Sandisk Corp, Applied Materials, Textron, Intuitive Surgical, International Business machines and Wells Fargo.

The Australian share market pared early losses to close around 0.2 per cent higher, as investors snapped up bank stocks and other cyclicals with attractive dividend yields.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: Weyerhaeuser, Nabors Industries, Pier 1 Imports, Qualcomm, Helmerich & Payne, Freeport-McMoRan Copper, Netflix, Bally Technologies and Costco Wholesale Corp.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: Texas Instruments, Nvidia, Monsanto, Urban Outfitters, Broadcom, Corning, Freeport-McMoRan and Cephalon.

The Australian share market closed higher for a sixth consecutive trading day with activity subdued after the Reserve Bank (RBA) left interest rates unchanged.

Though the human tragedy caused by the Japan disaster is incalculable, its economic impact may be less harsh than previously thought. An analyst said on Monday there will be some near-term impact but it will not be sufficient to dent the region’s strong growth prospects this year.

A Danish researcher has found that a form of iron oxide can trap heavy metals and remove them from water.

The 9 magnitude temblor which hit Japan on Friday sent tremors across the global supply chain as companies dependent on Japanese exports fretted over supply disruptions.

Could the ambitious project of developing a laser-powered space elevator, a 'railway line' into space, turn science fiction into reality?

Gold-buying prices held at two-week lows vs. the Dollar in London on Friday, as the US currency jumped and world stock markets sank after a powerful tsunami hits the Japanese coast 190 miles north-east of Tokyo.

Gold should push higher from its near-record levels due to its appeal as a safe haven, while iron ore should regain its upward momentum on the back of red-hot industrial demand from Asia, forecasters told the world's larger mining conference on Sunday.

Professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, Karen Bergman is working on an alternative model for flow of Internet traffic that could drastically increase the speed at which information travels over the web.

Gold touched a record high above $1,440 an ounce on Wednesday, as a bullish confluence of political unrest in Libya, surging oil prices and easy monetary policies spurred safe haven buying.

Dutch artists Adrei and Alfons Kennis have made Ötzi come alive by using 3D images of his skull as well as X-ray and CT images and have made him the main attraction of the exhibition.

Copper output in Zambia, Africa's leading producer of the metal, increased by 60 percent in January as mining companies boosted production due to favourable prices, the central bank said on Wednesday.

U.K. Telecommunications Regulator Ofcom has found that broadband speeds are often half of what is advertised.

Gold prices held just below the previous session's record high in Europe on Wednesday, as the acceleration of global inflation and the threat that violence in the Middle East and North Africa will spread supported interest in the metal as a haven from risk.

Hong Kong stocks may receive respite from good corporate results on Friday, but will remain under pressure and will likely trade in a narrow range, weighed down by concerns about volatile oil prices and ongoing turmoil in the Middle East.