April 4, 2007

More wealth tied up in homes

by Elaine Frei
New data shows that the average Briton has over half of their personal wealth in their homes, much more than the 40 percent of personal wealth that was represented by their homes ten years ago. At that time, 58 percent of the average Briton’s wealth was in the form of financial assets, including savings, share ownership, life assurance policies, and ...

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April 3, 2007

Equities markets higher as oil prices drop

by Elaine Frei
Asia Pacific region equities markets were higher on Tuesday. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.51 percent to 5,997.6, while the S&P/ASX300 closed at 6,013.4, a gain of 97.6 points on the session. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.97 percent to 10,002.7. India’s Sensex partially bounced back from Monday’s losses to gain 1.6 percent ...

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Lloyds TSB to offer Sharia-complaint business accounts

by Elaine Frei
Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) will become the first UK bank to offer business accounts that meet the requirements of Sharia law. The bank will offer the new accounts to Islamic business owners at all of its branches in addition to other Sharia-compliant accounts, which it began offering in 2005. With at least 10,000 businesses owned by Muslims in ...

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RICS survey: Housing market drives first quarter construction

by Elaine Frei
The latest Construction Market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors shows that a strong private and commercial housing market drove the construction industry in the UK in the first quarter of 2007. Workloads increased at their fastest pace since the second quarter of 2004. The survey reported that 28 percent more Chartered Surveyors reported a rise in ...

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April 2, 2007

Sensex drops nearly 5 percent on interest rate hike in India

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia Pacific region were mixed on Monday. In India, the Sensex dropped 4.72 percent to 12,455.37, losing 616.73 points on the session. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.18 percent to 5,908.2, a decline of 70.6 points. The S&P/ASX200 index fell 79.2 points to 5,915.8. The equities markets ...

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Direct debit protections asked

by Elaine Frei
In the wake of last week’s glitch that saw around 400,000 workers who have their pay deposited directly into their bank accounts receive their pay late, consumer watchdog Trading Standards has asked that protections be put into place for customers who receive their pay that way and who pay their bills by direct debit. The problem, according to Tony Northcott, of the Trading Standards ...

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Borrowing on equity up in UK in 2006

by Elaine Frei
More homeowners in the UK are borrowing on the equity in their homes, according to new data from the Bank of England. Analysts say that this is largely due to lack of growth in disposable income last year and to the desire of consumers to borrow money at a lower interest rate than credit cards charge. Mortgage equity withdrawal ...

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