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(Recasts headline and lead, adds quotes from the Kremlin and Lavrov) MOSCOW, Oct 9 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Thursday welcomed a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas but said the key would be to see how the deal was implemented. Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could be a first step toward ending a two-year-old war that has roiled the Middle East. "We certainly support these efforts. It cannot but cause general satisfaction that a ceasefire in Gaza is already being established. All these efforts can be welcomed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying. "We hope that the signatures will be delivered today, and then actions will follow to implement the agreements reached," Peskov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in the Middle East, including Trump's plan to end the Gaza conflict in a phone call on Monday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Trump's plan was "the best solution we have on the table" and "gave hope", though it mentioned "statehood" in rather vague terms and not in regard to the West Bank. Lavrov said that the West shared responsibility for stalling United Nations decisions on Palestinian statehood which he said "would come later." "Our Western colleagues must also bear their share of responsibility for having played a key role in stalling the implementation of the decisions on creating an independent Palestine on the West Bank and in Gaza," Lavrov said. "The Palestinian issue, which remains unresolved for nearly 80 years now, is the main factor fueling extremism in the Middle East." (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan)

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Oct 9 (Reuters) – WPG Holdings Ltd: * SAYS SEPTEMBER SALES UP 13% M/M AT T$89.09 BILLION ($2.92 billion) Source text: Further company coverage: ($1 = 30.4900 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom)

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Oct 9 (Reuters) – Partnera Oyj: * TO DELIVER FOAM GLASS TO MAJOR PROJECT IN TURKU Further company coverage: (Gdansk Newsroom)

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CONGO'S GOLD RESERVES MOVE WILL HELP SHORE UP LOCAL CURRENCY, CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR SAYS

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Oct 9 (Reuters) – Sheffield Wednesday's financial crisis represents a "significant problem" for English football, according to the new chair of the Independent Football Regulator, who said that club owners deemed unsuitable could be forced to sell their teams as a last resort. The IFR was established to address growing concerns over governance and financial sustainability within English football. While the Premier League is regarded as the best in Europe, bolstered by substantial TV broadcasting revenues, the lower tiers of English football are struggling. Wednesday were charged by the English Football League (EFL) in June with multiple breaches of regulations after the second-tier club failed to pay players' wages on time. They sit second bottom in the Championship. The club have previously faced player registration embargoes and were docked six points during the 2020-21 season for breaching profit and sustainability rules. "Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a significant problem for EFL and a significant problem for football," IFR chair David Kogan told BBC Sport on Thursday. "Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for English football and this week we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups. "We're now looking to get powers which will allow us to have Sheffield Wednesday — and other clubs — referred to us if they need to be investigated and acted upon." The IFR will have powers to operate a licensing scheme for the top-five levels, with licences subject to clubs meeting requirements regarding financial stability, owners' suitability, fan engagement and the protection of their heritage. "If your question is, 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we gather the evidence and know what's going on, we will," Kogan said. "The last thing what we want to do is start getting involved with an individual club, an individual owner, without being able to work with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club's facing and the owner's facing." (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

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* European stocks lower, driven by banks * French bonds hold on to Wednesday's gains * JPMorgan CEO warns of market risks (Updates throughout after European market open) By Elizabeth Howcroft PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – European stocks opened lower on Thursday, in a move driven by banking shares, while investors weighed up the risk of a market correction after AI-enthusiasm helped Asian stocks reach new highs overnight. Wall Street hit fresh record highs in the previous session, as investors bet on gains in technology stocks, despite a U.S. government shutdown leaving traders without some key economic data . The U.S. shutdown and political risk in Japan and France have made investors nervous this week, creating safe-haven demand which, along with a weaker dollar, has driven gold above $4,000 for the first time. STOXX DOWN 0.3% ON THE DAY The STOXX 600 was down 0.3% on the day at 0903 GMT and London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, hit by losses at HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group but partially offset by gains in mining and technology stocks. The MSCI World Equity Index was flat on the day . "It just feels like the mood is a little bit fragile," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index. "It does feel that we’re lacking substance to any move that we’re seeing, because we’re not getting that data out of the U.S.” In a sign of rising caution among investors, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said there was a heightened risk of a significant correction in the U.S. stock market within the next six months to two years, citing factors including geopolitical tensions, government spending and remilitarization around the world. U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire and hostage deal . French bonds held on to Wednesday's gains after President Emmanuel Macron said that he would name a new prime minister by Friday evening, which raised hopes that the country could avoid a snap election and agree a budget. The 10-year French government bond yield was at 3.5082% , while the benchmark German 10-year yield was 2.692% . The dollar index made small gains, up 0.1% on the day at 99.971, but still down around 8.9% on the year overall. The euro was in its fourth day of declines, down 0.1% at $1.1615. The Japanese yen hit an eight-month low of 153 per dollar overnight, but was last a touch stronger at 152.76 . An economist advising the policy circle of Japan's likely new premier Sanae Takaichi told Reuters that the yen's current weakness benefits the economy, and the hit to households from rising import costs can be offset by aggressive fiscal spending. Oil prices were steady, as traders waited to see if the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas would hold. Gold was little changed, at $4,041.29. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday forecast a slight slowdown in global growth in 2025 and 2026, warning investors not to get too comfortable, but said the world economy has proven more resilient than expected. China tightened its export controls of rare earth technology, expanding April's restrictions. (Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Oct 9 (Reuters) – JSE Ltd: * JSE: JSE – CHANGE TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS – RETIREMENT OF GROUP CEO AND APPOINTMENT OF NEW GROUP CEO * JSE LTD – VALDENE REDDY APPOINTED AS JSE CEO EFFECTIVE 1 APRIL 2026 * JSE LTD – LEILA FOURIE TO RETIRE AS JSE CEO ON 31 MARCH 2026 Source text: Further company coverage:

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UK GOVT: CONTRACT IS SET TO DELIVER UK-MANUFACTURED LIGHTWEIGHT MULTIROLE MISSILES (LMM)  BUILT IN BELFAST TO THE INDIAN ARMY

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(Adds details, background from paragraph 9) By Charlie Conchie FRANKFURT, Oct 9 – German prosthetics firm Ottobock began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at 72 euros ($83.61) per share on Thursday, exceeding its offer price in the country's largest initial public offering in more than a year. The world's leading manufacturer of artificial limbs planned to raise about 808 million euros through the IPO. The share issue initially valued the company at 4.2 billion euros based on the offer price of 66 euro apiece, but shares posted a 5.5% gain, trading at 69.65 euros at 0828 GMT. Ottobock will receive 100 million euros from the offering, with the remaining proceeds going to the founding Naeder family, which will retain more than 80% of the shares, according to the prospectus. The IPO comes amid a rash of new listings across Europe in recent weeks, which have buoyed dealmakers after a dearth of activity over the past two years. Since September, Swiss Marketplace Group debuted in Zurich, Verisure floated in Stockholm with a 13.7 billion euros valuation, and the London Stock Exchange hosted listings for U.S. energy firm Fermi and Beauty Tech Group. Ottobock's listing marks the company's second attempt to go public, after shelving its first effort in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The offering is Germany's largest since retailer Douglas went public in March last year. Hamburg-based billionaire Klaus Michael Kuehne and a fund managed by U.S. asset manager Capital Group acted as cornerstone investors on the deal. A chunk of the proceeds is expected to be used by the Naeder family to repay a loan from private credit funds, which was taken to buy back a stake in the company from Swedish private equity investor EQT last year, according to the IPO prospectus. The family will still owe the financiers around one billion euros and has until the first quarter of 2030 to pay back the debt, the prospectus showed. While the family's stake has been reduced to 81% in the IPO, they are expected to further cut their holdings to 70-75% after the end of a 180-day lock-up period, sources previously told Reuters. Ottobock, also a global leader in braces that support a patient's mobility known as orthoses, has grown rapidly in recent years on the back of a number of acquisitions and new product launches. The war in Ukraine has also driven rising demand for its products, Ottobock CEO Oliver Jakobi told Reuters in 2022. The company sold roughly double the number of foot prosthetics in the second half of 2022 compared to the entirety of 2021, Jakobi said. Ottobock, however, has faced scrutiny over its continued operations in Russia since the invasion. In the first half of this year, more than 8% of its sales were generated in the country. Medical products are not subject to Western sanctions, making the business legally permissible. Among the group's areas of prospective growth, it is investing in exoskeletons that help workers lift weights as well as in bionic devices that pick up electric nerve signals in residual limbs to give patients intuitive control over their prosthetics. ($1 = 0.8611 euros) (Reporting by Charlie Conchie, Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Ludwig Burger and Jacqueline Wong)

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NORTH KOREA EXPRESSES FULL SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA'S MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE -KCNA

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