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International Business News
Renault-Nissan, Bajaj announce cheap car project
AFP, Puris
Renault-Nissan and the Indian group Bajaj announced a joint venture Monday to produce a 2,500-dollar (1,600-euro) car, with sales expected to begin in India in early 2011.
The joint venture would be 50 percent owned by Bajaj Auto, 25 percent by Renault and 25 percent by Nissan, said a staement. The budget car is so far only known as "Codename ULC."
The ULC will be produced in a factory to be built at Chakan, Maharashtra state, western India which will eventually produce 400,000 units a year, the two groups said.
Renault-Nissan president Carlos Ghosn had announced the joint venture in early November of 2007 after preliminary talks in July. The main market for the car will be India but it may eventually be sold elsewhere.
Bajaj is India s second-biggest motorbike maker.
Earlier this year, Thta Motor, part of India's giant Tata conglomerate, announced plans to build what it claimed to be the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, also costing 2,500 dollars.
The Nano's debut is planned for later this year.
Agri funds sprouting in S'pore as food prices soar
Ann/ The Straits Times
Agriculture-related investment funds have sprouted in Singapore recently, as fund managers rush to satisy the appetite of investors keen to put their money literally where their mouth is.
Soaring prices of agricultural commodities are whetting investors' appetite for these funds.
In the past week alone, at least four investment funds offering exposure to the performance of agricultural markets like rice, wheat and soya bean have been launched in Singapore.
The BNP Paribas Agriculture Fund hit the market on Wednesday, followed by the Barclays Global Agriculture Delta Fund the following day. These products are available to retail investors for a minimum investment of $1,000 (USS 731.42).
Affluent clients are also chasing this new investment theme. Merrill Lynch is distributing its Citrine Agriculture Booster Notes, linked to six indexes, and at least three private banks recently launched their own products.
HSBC profits rise
AFP, London
Global bank HSBC said Monday that first-quarter profits climbed, despite writing off an additional 3.2 billion dollars (2.07 billion euros) from its exposure to the US subprime housing market slump.
"HSBC has made a strong start to the year despite the turbulence in global financial markets. In the first quarter of 2008, HSBC's profit was ahead of the equivalent period last year," it said in a trading update.
Europe's biggest bank added that the subprime writedown was in line with the group's forecasts and was lower than the 4.6 billion dollars that was written off in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The bank said pre-tax profits advanced in all major emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America but it gave a downbeat outlook for 2008.
Japan's Nikon posts record earnings
AFP, Tokyo
Strong sales of digital cameras helped to lift Nikon Corp's net profit by 37.7 percent to a record high in the year to March, the Japanese photography icon saidTuesday.
But the company was more cautious about the current financial year due to a stronger yen, soaring material costs and a weaker global economy, predicting a 3.3 percent improvement in its bottom line.
The camera giant, which in 2006 decided to stop making most traditional film cameras, posted a net profit of 75.48 billion yen (731 million dollars) for the financial year to March, slightly ahead of its own forecast.
Oil prices pull back from record highs
AFP, London
Oil prices dipped Monday from last week's record highs but held above 125 dollars on tensions in the crude-rich Middle East and ongoing supply fears in Nigeria, traders said.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, slid 71 cents to 125.25 dollars per barrel.
London's Brent crude contract for June delivery fell 56 cents to 124.84 dollars. /
On Friday, New York crude had hit a record high 126.27 dollars and London Brent set a historic peak of 125.90 dollars.
"Oil prices were a little lower following some profit taking after crude futures hit fresh record highs at the end of last week,' said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at the Sucden brokerage in London.