CA-BUSINESS Summary

U.S. data douses equity rally, gold down 4 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commodities sold off on Friday, with gold sinking more than 4 percent to break below $1,500 an ounce, while world equity markets fell after a dour reading of U.S. consumer sentiment and poor retail sales reinforced fears of a weak U.S. economy that would hurt global growth. Gold fell to its lowest levels since July 2011, hurt by a draft plan for Cyprus to sell gold reserves as part of its bailout by international lenders.

Analysis: Euro zone bank troublespots don't come down to size

DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) - Though the implosion of Cyprus's bloated banking system has put other euro zone economies with outsized financial sectors such as Luxembourg and Malta in the spotlight, loan quality is the real litmus test of a country's financial stability. Attracted by low taxes, high interest rates and light regulation, foreign deposits, largely from Russia and other former Soviet states, pumped up the Cypriot banking sector to nearly eight times annual economic output, more than double the European average of around 3.5 times.

Cyprus central bank chief calls for its independence to be respected

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's central bank governor said on Sunday he was willing to work with the government to pull the island out of its economic crisis, provided the bank's independence was respected. A rift between Governor Panicos Demetriades, appointed last May by the communist former administration, and the ruling center-right government has deepened and pressure grown on him to resign over his handling of the crisis.

China poised to tap policy brakes as economy gathers speed

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's recovery from its slowest year of economic growth since 1999 likely accelerated in the first three months of 2013, fuelled by a credit boom that could quickly be thrown into reverse if property speculation and inflation gather pace. A double-digit rise in bank lending and a surge in total credit in the economy in the first three months of the year, together with forecast-busting import growth in March, have set analysts thinking the economy is expanding faster than expected and policymakers may have to act to restrain it.

Exclusive: Thermo Fisher nears $13 billion Life Tech deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies Corp for close to $13 billion, according to four people familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the year's biggest corporate takeovers. The acquisition would catapult Thermo Fisher into the hot field of genetic sequencing, where researchers, drugmakers and doctors are uncovering the genetic factors underpinning diseases to better tailor treatments to the patients.

Stagnant Europe the class laggard as G20 takes stock

LISBON (Reuters) - After a bungled bailout of Cyprus, the recession-stricken euro zone will stand out for the wrong reasons when finance ministers meet in Washington this week to run the rule over the global economy. China on Monday is likely to report a growth rate of 8 percent for the first quarter, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Tesco's South Korean crown jewel flawed by new regulations

SEOUL (Reuters) - Tesco Plc finally managed to open a near-3,000 sq meter super store in South Korea, its largest market outside Britain, after a seven-month delay by agreeing not to stock 15 items including radishes, mangoes and some cuts of local beef. Big-box retailers in South Korea such as Tesco and Costco Wholesale Corp are reluctantly bowing to government demands aimed at protecting local merchants -- including plans to fine the super stores if they set up without the consent of nearby local merchants.

Italy's RCS Mediagroup presses ahead with restructuring plan

MILAN (Reuters) - The board of Italy's loss-making RCS MediaGroup approved on Sunday the broad terms of a capital increase and a debt refinancing plan needed for its turnaround plan. The publisher of Italy's newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, whose ownership groups some of Italy's biggest financial and industrial names, needs large financial resources to accelerate its digital transition and reverse losses over the next three years.

Egypt sells $600 million to import basic goods

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank sold $600 million to banks in a special auction of foreign exchange on Sunday to pay for wheat, meat, cooking oil and other essential imports to a country struggling with a currency crisis. The size of the auction - 15 times the amount the central bank has been selling at its regular currency auctions - showed the extent of pent up demand for dollars as Egypt struggles with an economic crisis two years after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.

French minister mulls partial stake sales in companies

PARIS (Reuters) - France's industry minister on Sunday said the French government was mulling possible cuts in the state's stakes in some partly state-owned companies in the energy and transport sectors while seeking to keep influence in their management. "It doesn't mean privatisations. But there are some companies in which we have a 36-percent stake. Could we bring that to 33 percent? What does it change? We can discuss it," Arnaud Montebourg said in an interview on France 5 television.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-035302275--finance.html

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