Page 852 - Reuters

Gold faces longest monthly losing streak since 2018 on rate hikes

Spot gold fell 0.8% to $1,710.70 an ounce by 0956 GMT

Amid rising prices, oil companies invest heavily in offshore drilling

Surging oil prices are encouraging the investments, along with Europe's mounting energy demand as the Ukraine-Russia war drags on

Heatwaves, Covid cases scald China's manufacturing activity in August

Covid cases, property sector woes also keep PMI below 50 in August

Russia's halt on gas supplies tightens energy screws on Europe

European governments fear Moscow could extend the outage in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed after it invaded Ukraine and have accused Russia of using energy supplies as a "weapon of war"

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka strikes staff-level pact with IMF on loan: Report

The debt-laden island nation had sought up to $3 billion from the global lender as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades

Sony-Zee merger can hurt competition, scrutiny needed, says CCI: Report

Zee in a statement said it continues to take all the required legal steps to complete all the necessary approval processes for the proposed merger

EU complicates travel rules for Russians, but baulks at visa ban

The EU was too divided to agree at this stage on a blanket ban, and also left unclear what measures Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland could take to restrict access to Russian visitors

India receives August monsoon rains 3.4% above average: Weather department

India received 3.4% more rainfall than average in August as central and southern parts of the country received heavy rains, IMD said

US FDA authorises two Covid boosters targeted at Omicron subvariants

US approves Omicron vaccines from Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer

Wall Street struggles for direction on rate hike jitters; Snap jumps

Snap jumps as it restructures ad business, lays off staff; Netflix rises after hiring two Snap Inc executives; Bed Bath & Beyond sinks on corporate overhaul

South Africa's Aspen, India's Serum Institute sign vaccines deal for Africa

South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare has signed a deal with the Serum Institute of India to manufacture and sell four Aspen-branded vaccines for Africa

Thailand looks to lavish Indian weddings to boost tourism revenue

Thailand hopes to boost its tourism revenue to between 600 billion-700 billion baht by year-end, by targeting high-spending groups like Indian wedding parties and honeymooners

Oil prices fall 3% on recession fears; China factory data disappoints

Brent crude futures for October, due to expire on Wednesday, were down $3.56 at $95.75 a barrel following Tuesday's $5.78 loss

US regulators to vet Alibaba, JD.com, other Chinese firms' audits: Report

The respective accounting firms of Alibaba, JD.com and Yum China - PwC, Deloitte and KPMG - have also been notified of the inspection

Japan regulator to enhance bank surveillance as foreign interest rates rise

The current round of aggressive foreign interest rate rises has caught major Japanese banks off guard

France ready for Gazprom's 'pretext' to switch off gas, says minister

Russia's Gazprom announced that from Thursday it would fully suspend gas deliveries to Engie, a French utility, citing a dispute over payments

Russia's Gazprom Neft says oil production recovered to pre-Covid levels

Many countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, but key oil consumers China and India have stepped up imports of discounted Russian barrels to record levels

Amazon, Google slam Microsoft over changes in cloud computing rules

Amazon, Google, Alibaba, and Microsoft's own cloud services will be excluded from the deals

Toyota Motor to invest $5.3 bn in Japan, US for EV battery supply

In addition, about $2.5 billion will be invested in Toyota Battery Manufacturing in North Carolina

Gold set for fifth monthly fall as US rate hike prospects mute appeal

Spot gold was flat at $1,724.18 per ounce, as of 0541 GMT, trading close to a one-month trough hit on Monday. Bullion has lost 2.3% so far in August