TOKYO (June 27): Asian shares were mostly in the red on Friday, weighed down by a weak performance on Wall Street and doubts about the strength of the U.S.

TO HELP keep herself safe and sane while making television dramas in Afghanistan, Australian producer Trudi-Ann Tierney devised an ever-more elaborate game of hide-and-seek in her head in case the Taliban launched a surprise attack.Imagining what it would be like to hide in the top of a wardrobe, the middle of a lake or buried among a herd of goats, she mentally weighed the pros and cons of the

(June 26): Petrofac Ltd. and First Reserve Corp. agreed to set up a $1.25 billion fund to buy energy infrastructure assets.First Reserve and its investors will fund about 80 percent of PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners, with Petrofac adding as much as $250 million in assets and cash, the U.K.’s largest oil and gas engineer said in a statement.

SYDNEY (June 27): A Senate committee report has recommended an independent inquiry into a financial planning scandal at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), with the bank accused of covering up misconduct that left thousands of its customers without their savings.The inquiry, which may take the form of a royal commission or independent judicial inquiry, is likely to pave the way for regula

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (June 27): The New Zealand dollar rose to a three-year high on Friday, benefiting from a broad chase for higher yields, while its Australian peer was a bit more circumspect ahead of its 2014 peak.Robust demand for better returns in a low global interest rate environment was evident in the debt market with Australian bonds resuming their rally.

TOKYO (June 26): Japan's jobless rate in May fell to a nearly 17-year low of 3.5 percent in May, the government said Friday.The rate edged down from 3.6 percent in April, hitting the lowest level since December 1997 when unemployment was also at 3.5 percent, official data showed.

TOKYO (June 27): Japanese consumer inflation rose at the fastest pace in decades in May as a sales tax hike introduced to help reverse years of falling prices started to bite, official data showed Friday.Japan's core consumer prices, stripping out volatile fresh food prices, rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in May, the internal affairs ministry said.It was higher than a 3.2 percent increase in Apr

SYDNEY (June 27): Mining magnate Gina Rinehart had Aus$2.01 billion (US$1.89 billion) wiped off her fortune in the past year but remains Australia's wealthiest person, an annual rich list showed Friday.The tycoon, head of resources giant Hancock Prospecting, saw her wealth slump due to a falling iron ore price but she still topped the respected BRW Rich List at Aus$20.1 billion.Earlier this yea

(June 27): Palm oil, the most-used cooking oil, may rally less than an earlier forecast as demand for biodiesel trails estimates and an El Nino starts later than expected, said Dorab Mistry, director at Godrej International Ltd.Futures may climb to 2,800 ringgit ($870) a metric ton by December if the weather event occurs from mid-August, Mistry said, scaling back his March 5 forecast for a run-

TOKYO (June 27): Japan's Nikkei share average
slipped on Friday as concerns about U.S. economic growth hurt
sentiment and as the stronger yen pulled down exporters.
The Nikkei dropped 0.6 percent to 15,216.73 points
by late morning, but still not so far from a five-month high of
15,442.67 marked early this week.