विदेश

(Adds Erdogan quotes and background on Turkey-U.S. ties, White House talks) ANKARA, Oct 8 (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said he was hopeful that his meeting last month with U.S. President Donald Trump would help lift sanctions blocking Turkey's purchase of F-35 jets, and also help resolve a legal case against state lender Halkbank. The U.S. CAATSA sanctions, applied in 2020 over Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 air defences, and the U.S. charges that Halkbank helped Iran skirt separate sanctions emerged as key issues in the White House talks two weeks ago. The sides announced no agreements on those issues after the meeting between Trump and Erdogan. "I hope the F-35 issue will be resolved and CAATSA sanctions will be lifted," Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from Azerbaijan, when asked about the meeting and a subsequent phone call with Trump. "We must achieve this. Our visit has ushered in a new era in Turkish-U.S. relations and further strengthened the dialogue and friendship between us," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks shared by his office on Wednesday. On Halkbank, Erdogan said that Trump told him both at the White House and in their phone call that "the Halkbank problem is finished for us," according to the readout. On Tuesday Reuters reported, citing two sources , that Turkish officials proposed settling the case against Halkbank for some $100 million during the White House meeting. Shares in Halkbank subsequently rose 7.9% in Istanbul. "We also know that there are some processes (related to Halkbank) that need to be completed. Our hope is that these processes will conclude positively as soon as possible," Erdogan was quoted as saying on the flight. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Jonathan Spicer)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Adds details throughout) Oct 8 (Reuters) – Peter Hargreaves has stepped down from the board of Hargreaves Lansdown, the British investment platform he co-founded in 1981, and his son Robert Hargreaves will take his seat, the company said on Wednesday. Peter, 79, who co-founded the group with Stephen Lansdown and took it public in 2007, rejoined the company's board in April a month after Hargreaves Lansdown was taken private by an international consortium. The 5.4 billion-pound ($7.25 billion) takeover was funded by a group consisting of Europe's largest private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners , Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, and Swedish private equity firm Nordic Capital. Robert has been a Board Observer with the firm since the takeover, the company said. He is currently the marketing manager at asset management group Blue Whale Capital, according to his LinkedIn page. "I have been greatly impressed by the strength and direction of the team now leading the business and I am confident it is now well-placed for future success," Peter said in a statement. ($1 = 0.7453 pounds) (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Nithyashree R B and Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Harikrishnan Nair)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Updates throughout) * Gold topples $4,000 mark, shows no sign of stopping * Political turmoil in France in spotlight, dents euro * Yen at lowest since February; intervention risk rises By Amanda Cooper LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Global shares rose on Wednesday, as investors latched on to the prospect of lower interest rates, shaking off political drama in France and Japan, while a prolonged U.S. government shutdown catapulted gold beyond $4,000 per ounce for the first time. The prospect of a series of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and safe-haven demand stemming from economic and political worries have lifted the gold price by 50% this year to above $4,000 an ounce. Traditionally, gold is seen as a store of value during times of instability. This rally, driven by demand from central banks, fund managers and retail traders alike, has had a tailwind of a weaker dollar too. HEDGE EVERYTHING "Funds and global reserve managers want a hedge against fiscal recklessness, currency debasement, and unpredictable government policy, and gold sits squarely at the heart of that movement," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. Thierry Wizman, global FX & rates strategist at Macquarie Group, said gold's rally is the collective "hedge" against the prospective failure of Wall Street's AI-driven tech boom. "A collapse of that optimistic 'vision' might trigger an inflationary resolution for the world's sovereign debt overhang, rather than a productivity-based resolution." European stocks edged up 0.4%, as gains in banks and energy stocks helped offset a drop in autos, led by a 7% decline in BMW shares after the German luxury carmaker cut its 2025 earnings forecast. U.S. stock futures were up 0.1-0.25, hinting at more gains in New York later on. In France, caretaker Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday said a deal could potentially be reached on the country's budget by year-end, making the risk of a snap election more remote. His cautiously optimistic tone helped a modest rally in French bonds, leaving OAT yields down 4.5 basis points on the day at 3.524%, but did little to support the euro, which headed for its third daily loss in a row, trading around one-month lows at $1.1628. "It's another prime minister and it has been pretty volatile," Nina Stanojevic, senior investment specialist at St. James’s Place, said. "It raises two areas of uncertainty – first around fiscal packages being pushed through and whether we get another snap election on the horizon, which would affect French OATs." YEN SLIDES Political shifts have also driven Japan's yen lower this week. The currency has hit eight-month lows as investors await word from prime minister-in-waiting Sanae Takaichi on her plans for spending and the economy. It last fetched 152.40 per U.S. dollar. Takaichi's victory over the weekend has sparked concern among investors about the impact of her preference for lower rates and higher spending on the Bank of Japan, which may struggle to raise interest rates as much as previously expected, which has, in turn, weighed on the yen. The yen is down over 3% this week, on pace for its steepest weekly decline in a year, which has stirred up concern of intervention by Japanese authorities. Hirofumi Suzuki, chief currency strategist at SMBC, said should the yen head towards near 160 within one to two weeks, "FX intervention by the Japanese government would be viewed as more likely". The New Zealand dollar sank nearly 1% after the central bank slashed its benchmark rate by 50 basis points and kept the door open for further easing, suggesting policymakers were worried about the frail state of the economy. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, hit its highest since the end of August, although sentiment remained dim as the shutdown entered its eighth day. The shutdown has also halted the release of a number of key economic reports. Markets show traders still expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates by around 45 bps between now and the end of the year. Oil rose on Wednesday as investors brushed off concerns over excess supply this year. Brent crude futures rose 0.8% to $65.97 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.9% to $62.28. (Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Sam Holmes and Sharon Singleton)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Adds comments from ONS official paragraphs 8-11, background) LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Britain's statistics office said on Wednesday that government borrowing in the previous and current fiscal years was a combined 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) lower than previously reported after a value added tax receipt data error was found. The ONS said the error was in data provided by the government's tax office and did not affect data from before January this year. "Correcting for the error reduces public sector net borrowing by between 200 million pounds and 500 million pounds per month within the period affected, resulting in a reduction in borrowing of 1 billion pounds for the financial year ending March 2025 and a reduction of 2 billion pounds for the financial year to date," the Office for National Statistics said. Figures published last month showed Britain's borrowing in the 2024/25 financial year stood at just over 146 billion pounds and totalled almost 84 billion pounds in the first five months of the current one. The ONS has come under criticism from the Bank of England and private economists for problems with other figures it publishes, including its measures of the British labour market. At a revised 82 billion pounds, the borrowing for the current financial year to date would be about 10 billion pounds higher than a forecast from Britain's official budget watchdog, whose projections underpin the government's budgets. Finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to raise taxes in her budget in November in order to remain on course to hit her target to fix the public finances. The ONS's new director general, James Benford, said the error stemmed from an omission by tax officials of some payment streams from the data used to estimate VAT receipts. "It is difficult for the ONS to set up a mechanism to independently check these external inputs," he said. However, Benford said he was talking to tax and Treasury officials as well as the Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog about ways to avoid similar problems in future. "Over the coming weeks, we will work together with the OBR and our data suppliers to identify steps to ensure processes within the data suppliers are robust and the mechanisms to understand and challenge what is provided to the ONS are as strong as possible," he said. ($1 = 0.7468 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Sarah Young)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

IRAQ'S SOMO, EXXON TO ALSO SIGN A PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT IN CRUDE OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS TRADING – THREE SOURCES WITH KNOWLEDGE

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

Oct 8 (Reuters) – Artifex Mundi SA: * PRELIM. SEPTEMBER SALES REVENUE AT 7.0 MILLION ZLOTYS Source text: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Gdansk Newsroom)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Adds details on IPO, opening price in paragraphs 2-3) STOCKHOLM, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Shares of security services group Verisure rose 13% on Wednesday on their first day of trading on the Stockholm bourse following the biggest initial public offering of a European company since 2016, according to LSEG data. Verisure traded at 15.0 euros at 0713 GMT against an offering price announced earlier on Wednesday of 13.25 euros (145.36 crowns) that had valued the group at 13.7 billion euros ($15.9 billion). The Switzerland-based alarm systems provider's float comes amid a broader revival in Europe's IPO market after a sluggish first half of the year, when several listings were pulled due to trade tensions and concerns over conflict in the Middle East. STRONG INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR INTEREST Verisure, which had previously set a share price range of between 12.25 and 13.50 euros, said in a statement the offering was multiple times oversubscribed. "The offering attracted strong interest from Swedish and international institutional investors as well as the general public in Sweden," it said. Verisure, initially a unit of Sweden's Securitas , was first listed in 2006 as Securitas Direct. Its current majority owner is U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. The company unveiled in September it planned to list on Nasdaq Sweden and raise 3.1 billion euros. It said on Wednesday that if an overallotment option is exercised in full, proceeds of the IPO will total around 3.6 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8610 euros)(1 Swedish crown = 0.0912 euros) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY: ISRAEL'S INTERVENTION ON FREEDOM FLOTILLA IS AN ACT OF PIRACY

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Adds detail, central bank statement) BANGKOK, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Thailand's central bank left its key interest rate steady on Wednesday, counter to market expectations for a cut as the economy struggles with a strengthening baht, negative inflation and U.S. tariffs. The Bank of Thailand's monetary policy committee voted 5 to 2 to keep the one-day repurchase rate steady at 1.50% after a quarter-point reduction at the previous meeting in August. Only six of 26 economists in a Reuters poll had predicted rates would be kept steady this week. Nineteen had predicted a 25 basis point cut, and one forecast a 50 basis point cut. Among those who provided a longer-term outlook on rates in the poll, 13 of 21 economists expected the policy rate to stand at 1.25% by the end of 2025. The remaining eight saw it at 1.00%. "The Committee assesses that monetary policy should be accommodative to support economic recovery. The transmission of previous policy rate cuts to the economy is ongoing," the central bank said in a statement. The BOT now expects the economy to grow 2.2% this year and 1.6% in 2026, slightly lower than its previous forecasts of 2.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Last year's growth was 2.5%. Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has lagged peers as it struggles with U.S. tariffs, high household debt, weak consumption, and a strong currency. Wednesday's policy review was the first for new Governor Vitai Ratanakorn. (Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon and Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by John Mair and David Stanway)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

Oct 8 (Reuters) – North Korea's Song Kuk-hyang won her second World Weightlifting Championships gold medal with a dominant performance, lifting a record total of 270 kg to claim the women's 69 kg title in Forde, Norway, on Tuesday. Song, an Asian Games champion in 2022 at 76 kg, also set world records in both the snatch (120 kg) and clean and jerk (150 kg), bettering the previous marks of American Olympic champion Olivia Reeves. The total of 270 kg was two kilograms more than any other woman in history and 29 kg more than Colombian silver medallist Julieth Rodriguez could manage to lift. Song's win also capped a clean sweep of the women's golds for North Korea at the tournament. "We expected very good results here and we got them, especially from the women," team coach Kim Chun Hui said. North Korea's women have been in red-hot form since their return to international competition in 2023 after a lengthy break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)