Oil slides 0.7 percent as Nigerian strike ends

(Reuters) - U.S. light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 58 cents or 0.84 percent to $68.60 a barrel, unwinding half of last week's gains that were also fuelled by concerns that U.S. refiners are struggling to meet fuel demand in the world's top consumer.




At the weekend, unions in Africa's top oil producer called off their strike after the government agreed to freeze fuel prices for a year.


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Japanese Stocks May Drop; Sony, Exporters May Pace Losses on U.S. Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks may decline, led by
companies relying on U.S. sales such as Sony Corp., on concern
losses from the faltering subprime market will be worse than
expected.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index had its biggest weekly drop
since early March. The U.S. was the largest overseas market for
Sony last business year.


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New Zealand Dollar May Strengthen as Japan Investors Attracted to Yields

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's dollar may rise today
as investors in Japan continue to be attracted to the nation's
higher-yielding assets.

The currency, known as the kiwi, gained 35 percent against
the yen, and 26 versus the U.S. dollar the past year as
investors use cheaply borrowed yen to buy New Zealand bonds and
bills. The country's record 8 percent interest rate is 7.5
percentage points higher than Japan's.


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Central banks should keep raising rates: BIS's Knight

(Reuters) - The global economy is poised for a fifth straight year of growth above 4 percent, but risks remain and have as their common thread the highly accommodative financial conditions that have buoyed it in recent years, BIS General Manager Malcolm Knight said.




Tighter rates would have the added benefit of reining in financial markets, which Knight said were still loaded with risk, possibly sowing the seeds for a nasty correction in assets and currencies.


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Putin Says Russia Wants to Play Key Role in Making Balkans an Energy Hub

(Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to increase its
influence in southeast Europe by buying state assets, supplying
fuel through new pipelines and linking power grids, President
Vladimir Putin said.

Companies like Russia's gas-export monopoly OAO Gazprom and
turbine-maker OAO Power Machines want to boost spending on the
region's energy infrastructure, Putin told leaders from the 10
Balkan states at an energy summit in Zagreb, Croatia today.


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Hyundai Motor says union scales back strike plan

(Reuters) - "The union decided not to stop work from Monday to Wednesday," a Hyundai spokesman said by telephone without elaborations.




Hyundai's union was not available for comments.


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Trade rules waiver needed for small firms - Sarkozy

(Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday that European small businesses should have the same exemption as their U.S. counterparts from global trade rules on the awarding of public contracts.

France has long pushed the European Union's executive commission to secure an exemption for small businesses from World Trade Organisation rules that government contracts should be open to all bidders. It argues that the United States and other countries have waivers to help their local companies.


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