Barcelona steps up crackdown on Airbnb, threatens further fines

Business, Technology

Authorities in Barcelona have stepped up a crackdown on homes illegally rented out to tourists via homesharing websites such as Airbnb, ordering hundreds to be removed from listings and hitting firms with a fine, while threatening more in the future.

Barcelona is not the only European city to take a swipe at Airbnb, which has rapidly expanded across the globe and often come into conflict with local rules. This year, Paris conducted raids on illegally sub-letted apartments and Berlin imposed a ban on owners renting out entire properties.

Barcelona's town hall said on Wednesday it would fine both Airbnb and fellow online rental firm, Homeaway, 60,000 euros ($66,918) each. If the companies continue to refuse to regulate their own users, the fine would jump to 600,000 euros each, a source from the town hall said.

Airbnb said in a statement it would appeal any fine issued.

Barcelona's leftist mayor Ada Colau, who took over last June and froze the granting of new tourist licenses for homes and hotels, has launched a plan to stop people from letting out their homes without a license via homesharing websites.

On Wednesday, her town hall ordered 256 apartments to be taken down from such platforms and said it was investigating over 400 other potential offenders.

She has blamed the sharp rise in Airbnb's popularity for greater tension among residents who fear an increase in 'binge tourism' and have protested against rowdy visitors. The number of people using Airbnb in Barcelona has tripled to 900,000 in the three years prior to 2015, its own data shows.

The new plan will see the creation of a multi-lingual website that invites people to identify and denounce unlicensed tourist accommodation, and a free-to-call telephone number allowing locals to expose neighbors that break the rules.

In the last month, 375 complaints had been made on the website, the town hall source said.

Owners that wish to rent out property to tourists must apply for a license and display it on any online advertisement. A team of 20 inspectors set up by the town hall is tasked with rooting out those who fail to jump through the legal hoops.

The measures come during a record year for tourism in both the Catalan capital and Spain as a whole, with the number of passengers coming through Barcelona's El Prat airport up 13 percent in June against last year, according to Spanish airport operator AENA.

The European Commission published guidance on the sharing economy for member states in June, saying that new business models can boost jobs and growth in the European Union, if encouraged and developed responsibly.

($1 = 0.8966 euros)

Source by Reuters

Twitter denies #SaveTwitter rumors of shutting down in 2017

Technology

Twitter Inc denied on Thursday rumors that the social media messaging service will be shutting down in 2017, denouncing the claim as groundless.

"There is absolutely no truth to the claims whatsoever," a spokesman for Twitter said in an emailed response to a Reuters request for comment.

Social media started buzzing with the hashtag #SaveTwitter early on Thursday, with more than 100,000 tweets mentioning the hashtag by early afternoon. It was unclear how the rumor started although some tweets said it originated from a Twitter user who complained about online bullying and Twitter's poor handling of such abuses.

Twitter has been criticized for not doing enough to police abusive behavior on the messaging service, and has struggled to find the right balance between free expression and blocking violent or hateful speech.

Last month, Twitter permanently suspended a number of user accounts for harassment, including that of Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, vowing to redouble efforts to thwart abusive behavior and block repeat offenders from the social media site.

Twitter shares rose 3.6 percent to $19.73 at mid-afternoon.

Source by Reuters

Wall St. hits fresh record highs, department stores surge

Stock market

Wall Street stocks hit fresh record highs on Thursday as rising oil prices and strong earnings from department stores Macy's and Kohl's buoyed investor sentiment.

Crude oil jumped 5.0 percent on comments from the Saudi oil minister about potential action to stabilize prices and the International Energy Agency's forecast that crude markets would rebalance in the next few months.

The S&P energy index (SPNY) jumped 1.58 percent, making it the top gainer among the 10 major sectors, led by a 1.45 percent gain in Chevron (N:CVX).

Macy's (N:M) shares soared 18 percent, marking the best day for the department store operator in nearly eight years after it reported a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly comparable-store sales and said it would close 100 stores.

Kohl's (N:KSS) shares rose 17 percent after its quarterly profit beat estimates.

Nordstrom (N:JWN) rose 7.23 percent ahead of its results after market closes, while J.C. Penney (N:JCP), which reports on Friday, surged 9.34 percent.

A stock market rally since late June has pushed the S&P 500 index up 7.0 percent in 2016, helped by better-than-expected quarterly earnings and low interest rates, but some investors are worried about high valuations.

The S&P 500's most recent record-high close was Friday and its most recent intra-day record high was Tuesday.

"I’m a bit surprised to see us hitting record highs again," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) in Austin. "We are pretty topped out and we should move sideways for awhile."

Robust U.S. economic data also helped on Thursday, with a report showing the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 266,000 from 269,000 the week earlier.

At 2:35 pm ET, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) was up 0.74 percent to 18,633.35 points and the S&P 500 (SPX) had gained 0.55 percent to 2,187.39.

The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 0.54 percent to 5,232.70.

Alibaba (N:BABA) rose 6.06 percent after the Chinese e-commerce giant posted a 59 percent jump in quarterly revenue.

Valeant (N:VRX) dropped 9.55 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. federal prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation on the drugmaker.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.89-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.08-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 27 new lows.

Source by Reuters

Crude surges 4% as IEA predicts continued market tightening through 2017

Commodities

U.S. crude futures surged as much as 5%, enjoying one of their strongest one-day moves in three months, amid expectations for further tightening between global supply and demand following bullish comments from a top industry watchdog on Thursday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for September delivery traded between $41.11 and $43.86 a barrel before closing at $43.40, up 1.69 or 4.05% on the session. At session-highs, the front month contract for U.S. crude soared to its highest level since July 25. On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for October delivery wavered between $43.47 and $46.30 a barrel, before settling at $45.94, up 1.89 or 4.29% on the day.

Crude prices rose sharply after the Paris-based International Energy Agency indicated on Thursday that global energy markets could be on the verge of rebalancing in the coming months. The forecasts came despite indications that world demand growth for oil could ease over the remainder of the year due primarily to a "dimmer macroeconomic outlook," in response to the Brexit decision and widespread easing from Central Banks worldwide. For 2016 as a whole, the IEA now expects global demand for oil to increase by 1.4 million bpd, down by 0.1 million from its previous estimate. At the same time, the IEA anticipates that global demand growth will slow to 1.2 million bpd in 2017, as underlying support from low oil prices continues to diminish.

Still, the reduced pace is more than offset by sharp declines in Non-OPEC supply growth, as U.S. Shale Producers struggle to stay online while crude prices remain considerably below their 5-year average. By year's end, the IEA forecasts that Non-OPEC supply growth will decline by 0.9 million bpd in comparison with last year's record production levels. While the IEA expects that producers will pump at a higher rate in 2017, the 0.3 million bpd increase will not be enough to outweigh the added demand.

The report comes days after OPEC president Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada hinted that a group of major producers could discuss a plan aimed at stabilizing persistently low oil prices at an energy conference in Algeria next month. Earlier this spring, a comprehensive production freeze between Russia, Saudi Arabia and two other nations abruptly collapsed after Saudi officials insisted that rival Iran take part in any deal requiring participants to cap output.

OPEC's latest monthly report, released on Wednesday, showed that Saudi Arabia pumped 10.67 million bpd of crude in July, its highest level on record. In addition, Iranian output on the month increased by 10,000 bpd to 3.62 million, approximately 468,000 bpd higher than its 2015 daily average.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, edged up to an intraday high of 95.87 in U.S. afternoon trading. Since hitting a four-month high at 97.62 in late-July, the Dollar has fallen back by nearly 2%.

Dollar-denominated commodities such as Crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.

Source by Investing.com

Taiwan police take aim at Pokemon gamers driven to distraction

Technology

The launch of the Pokemon GO game in Taiwan has sparked a sharp rise in traffic violations by commuters using their smartphones to play while driving.

Authorities have issued 1,210 tickets for smartphone use in traffic between last Saturday, when the game was released in Taiwan, and Monday. More than 1,100 of the tickets were dished out to scooter riders.

"The whole country is using their smart phones like crazy playing this internet game," said Yen San-lung, head of law enforcement in the traffic division of Taipei's police department.

Police have warned gamers against playing in traffic, issuing fines of NTD 3,000 ($95) for car drivers, while scooter riders face a NTD 1,000 ($32) ticket, according to media reports.

"When driving, it's easy to be distracted when using your mobile phone and this causes accidents. So the police will enhance efforts to fine drivers who use their mobile phones," Yen said.

Game players use mobile devices to search for virtual Pokemon characters that appear to pop up at places where people are known to gather, including offices, restaurants and museums.

Authorities in Taiwan have urged gamers to resist the urge to play in certain locations, most notably Taiwan's presidential palace and the National Palace Museum.

At the Taipei Zoo, many visitors could be seen using their phones instead of looking at the animals. Many of the enclosures house virtual Pokemon characters along with real creatures.

Chen Ting-ju said her boyfriend kept playing during their visit to the zoo.

"I'm very dissatisfied because from the moment we entered he started to take out his phone and play. Play, play, play non-stop," Chen said.

Source by Reuters

Mexico central bank holds interest rate, flags worsening growth

Economy

Mexico's central bank held borrowing costs steady on Thursday, flagging a weaker growth outlook after aggressively hiking rates in its prior decision to keep a depreciated peso from hitting inflation.

The Banco de Mexico left its key rate at 4.25 percent, as expected by all 17 analysts surveyed by Reuters last week, after a unanimous 50-basis-point hike in June.

Source by Reuters

Fed should raise interest rates this year, Williams says

Stock market

The Federal Reserve should raise interest rates further this year, a top U.S. central banker said in an interview published on Thursday, reflecting improved labor market conditions and the likelihood that inflation is heading higher.

"As the economy gets closer to its goals, we can again pull our foot off the gas a bit and hopefully execute a nice, soft landing over the next couple of years," San Francisco Fed President John Williams told the Washington Post in an interview conducted this week.

Asked if the Fed's gradual rate increases should include any rate hikes this year, Williams said, "In my view, it does," the paper reported.

The Fed raised benchmark U.S. rates last December for the first time in nearly a decade, but did not continue to lift them as it had anticipated in order to cushion the economy from the slowdown in China and financial market turmoil.

Williams had at the beginning of the year expected the Fed to raise rates several times in 2016, but global events have caused him to pencil in "a little more gradual pace of increases," he said in the interview.

Williams is not a voter this year on the Fed's policy-setting panel, but his comments are closely watched because his views are seen as reflecting those of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who was his boss when she ran the San Francisco Fed before she moved to Washington in 2010.

Source by Reuters

General Mills must face lawsuit over Cheerios Protein marketing

Business

A federal judge has ruled that General Mills Inc must face a lawsuit claiming it tricked consumers by marketing Cheerios Protein as a high-protein alternative to regular Cheerios, when the main difference was that it contained 17 times more sugar per serving.

In a decision on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco said consumers may pursue a claim that General Mills violated the federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act since it "misbranded" Cheerios Protein, which is sold in Oats & Honey and Cinnamon Almond flavors.

Though "skeptical" it would succeed, Henderson also refused to dismiss the plaintiffs' claim that reasonable consumers would likely be deceived by packaging for the cereal, noting that text mentioning its sugar content and being "sweetened" appeared in small print on the boxes.

Mike Siemienas, a General Mills spokesman, said the Minneapolis-based company does not discuss pending litigation.

Though Cheerios Protein has 7 grams of protein per serving versus 3 grams for regular Cheerios, the plaintiffs said the real difference was negligible because the serving size of Cheerios Protein, and the calorie content per serving, was twice as big.

The plaintiffs also called the Cheerios Protein name misleading because it said nothing about the 16 or 17 grams of sugar in a serving, versus a single gram in regular Cheerios.

A Washington-based nonprofit group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, filed the lawsuit last November on behalf of consumers in California and New York.

"We know that consumers are deceived to their detriment by this product," CSPI litigation director Maia Kats said in an email, "and look forward to the opportunity now to prove so in court."

The case is Coe et al v. General Mills Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 15-05112.

Source by Reuters

Broker-dealer TradeZero launches first 'dark pool' exchange for bitcoin

Technology

TradeZero, a Bahamas-based online broker-dealer, said on Thursday it had launched the world's first "dark pool" exchange for bitcoin to enable institutional investors to execute large trades.

The company will eventually open the exchange to other digital currencies such as ether and litecoin.

TradeZero has partnered with Jered Kenna, one of the earliest bitcoin investors and founder of the now defunct bitcoin exchange called Tradehill, for the venture.

Dark pools refer to trading outside the exchange done by large institutional investors. Off-exchange trading can make up about 40 percent of all U.S. stock trades.

"We are looking to provide the non-U.S. investor with the same access, tools and discounted commission structure that many U.S. traders enjoy today," said Daniel Pipitone, director of TradeZero said in a statement.

The company said customers will get access commission-free dark pool digital currency trading, allowing them to make large purchases or sales without substantially moving the market price.

TradeZero already allows commission-free stock and ETF trading, as well as equity and index options.

"If you want to see larger players moving in to do larger trades in bitcoin without upsetting the market, a dark pool is necessary," bitcoin entrepreneur Kenna told Reuters in an interview.

"I think it will bring a lot of stability in the market as well."

He said there is currently a required minimum opening balance of $10,000 to be able to trade on the dark pool exchange.

Kenna said when he launched TradeHill in the early days of bitcoin, the exchange offered a dark pool, but the company was never able to fund a bank to act as custodian for the fiat currencies, dollars and euro, arising from the bitcoin trades.

TradeZero will use a pre-existing bank for the fiat currencies, but Kenna declined to disclose the name of the bank.

Kenna was one of the earliest and larger holders of bitcoin. His initial purchase of 5,000 coins was for 20 cents each.

On Thursday, bitcoin traded at $589.81.

Source by Reuters

Fidelity seeks U.S. approval for new type of ETF: filing

Business

Fidelity Investments is seeking U.S. approval to offer a new type of actively managed exchange-traded fund, a regulatory filing on Thursday showed, as the fund company seeks to regain market share lost to low-cost index funds.

Many ETFs are set up to track market indexes without the need for constant supervision by an fund manager.

Fidelity had dominated the U.S. mutual fund industry until the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s. It has been forced to adapt to growing competition from index funds by putting more emphasis on its brokerage business and products other than U.S. stock mutual funds.

The Boston-based company asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to let it offer an Exchange-Traded Active Fund, or ETAF, which would trade and price throughout the day and offer more tax benefits than mutual funds.

The fund managers would not have to disclose for 30 days what they buy or sell, Fidelity proposed in the filing. Actively managed ETFs are required to make such disclosures daily.

Industry analysts have said that delayed disclosure would encourage active fund managers to offer more "non-transparent" ETFs that would give them a competitive advantage.

Boston-based Eaton Vance Corp in February launched NextShares, an exchange-traded product with delayed disclosures, as an alternative to mutual funds, but the product's backers are still working to win over converts.

In a statement, Fidelity cautioned that it might take some time to win approval for such funds. Some proposals for active ETFs and other similar products have languished without signs of progress for years.

Fidelity's filing underscores the growing urgency with which established investment managers are adapting to the fast-growing ETF industry, which has been gaining share from mutual funds, Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF and mutual fund research at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in an email.

Index-tracking U.S. stock funds took in $1.2 trillion from 2007 to 2015, while actively managed U.S. stock funds recorded $835 billion in withdrawals during that period, according to the Investment Company Institute, a fund trade group.

Last year, the 25 percent of equity funds which charged the least in fees managed nearly 75 percent of the industry's assets, the group's data shows.

Fidelity's new funds would be structured in some ways like a closed-end fund. They would be traded like stocks, at prices close to their net asset value, the company said.

Source by Reuters

Legg Mason's Bill Miller leaves firm amid faded glory

Stock market

Legg Mason Inc's Bill Miller, whose mutual fund beat the S&P 500 handily for 15 consecutive years at the turn of the century, is riding off into the sunset after his recent lagging returns left a trail of disappointed investors.

Miller, one of the last household names in the U.S. mutual funds industry, is departing Baltimore-based Legg Mason after 35 years, the company said on Thursday. He won high regard for picking "value" stocks and making big bets on them with the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust fund, which he left in 2011 and is now the ClearBridge Value Trust fund.

In its heyday, the fund beat the S&P 500 every year from 1991 to 2005.

A spokeswoman for Miller, 66, said he was traveling and not immediately available to comment.

At the $1.3 billion Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, Miller's stock picking clearly had not been working, prompting investors to pull their money.

This year, investors have made net withdrawals of $112 million from the fund and $779 million over the past five years, according to Lipper Inc, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

The fund's 1-year return of -18.06 percent lags 98 percent of its peers and trails the 5.73 percent advance of the S&P 500 Index during that time, according to Morningstar.

Loren Fox, director of research at Ignites Research, which follows the fund industry, said Miller’s departure is mainly symbolic, given that he oversaw a relatively small amount of assets under management at Legg Mason in recent years.

“While a star manager can create a marketable face for a firm, it can carry risks if that star underperforms” or runs into other troubles, Fox said.

Miller showed flashes of his old self in 2012 and 2013, when his fund returned 40.68 percent and 68.03 percent, respectively. He outperformed 99 percent of his peers during those two years, according to Morningstar Inc.

But his departure, as Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) equity analyst Christopher Harris put it, "has no consequential bearing on (Legg Mason's) financials, given the relatively small amount of assets Miller now manages."

The Legg Mason Opportunity fund generated $18 million in management fees in 2015. By contrast, the Legg Mason Value Trust fund generated $121 million in fees in 2006, U.S. regulatory filings show.

Legg Mason shares are down 29 percent over the past 12 months, compared with the S&P 500's 5 percent return.

Miller had been the public face of Legg Mason for years and his performance troubles handicapped the firm’s recovery from the financial crisis.

Legg Mason's record eventually drew the attention of activist hedge fund investor Nelson Peltz, who became a board member in 2009 and oversaw the replacement of the firm’s CEO in 2012. Peltz has since left the board and his firm, Trian Partners, sold most of its Legg Mason shares earlier this year.

The exodus from Miller's fund underscores a larger problem for active managers everywhere as they lose a flood of money to passively managed index funds. Since the end of 2008, Vanguard Group, the industry's king of index funds, has pulled in nearly $1 trillion in net deposits.

Miller left the Value Trust fund in 2011 after the fund's downturn during the recession.

"I am thankful to Legg Mason for our 35-year relationship and to the many great people I've worked with along the way," Miller said in a statement.

With Miller's departure, Legg Mason said, Miller acquired Legg Mason's stake in LMM LLC, which provides investment management services to Legg Mason Opportunities Trust, Miller Income Opportunities Trust and related strategies.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year, Legg Mason said.

Source by Reuters

Wells Fargo Advisors names David Kowach new head

Investing

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) named David Kowach to head its retail wealth management division, Wells Fargo Advisors, the nation's third-largest brokerage, on Thursday.

Kowach was promoted from his job overseeing roughly 11,000 brokers in the bank's Private Client Group. He succeeds Mary Mack, who left Wells Fargo Advisors last month to head up Wells' community banking business.

Kowach, a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, was focused on recruitment, retention, growth and sales during the more than four years he led the Private Client Group, Wells Fargo's largest wealth management business. In his new role, he will takes on managing an additional 4,000 bankers under the Wells Fargo Advisors umbrella.

Kowach enters the role at a time when the full-service brokerage industry is undergoing major regulatory and technology changes.

A new Department of Labor rule that takes effect in April 2017 has sparked an industry overhaul as wealth management businesses big and small scramble to decipher which products and business practices meet the rule's fiduciary standard.

The cost of compliance industry-wide is expected to reach as much as $31.5 billion in the next decade, which will result in higher costs to serve mass affluent investors who make up a large portion of the St. Louis-based brokerage's clientele.

Wells Fargo Advisors is working to roll out a pilot version of a robo adviser in first half of 2017 in order to have more options for clients who want to pay lower fees or prefer digital options.

Wells also made a play last year to target wealthier clients by recruiting more than 100 private bankers from Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) Group AG when the Swiss bank sold off its U.S.-based brokerage business, many of whom took jobs in Kowach's old division.

Wells Fargo, which said it would name Kowach's successor shortly, did not make him available for interviews.

Source by Reuters

Gold inches down amid flat Dollar, ahead of key U.S. retail sales report

Commodities

Gold ticked down on Thursday, amid a relatively steady dollar, as cautious investors awaited the release of monthly retail and consumer data at week's end for greater clarity on the current strength of the U.S. economy.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Gold for December delivery traded between $1,345.95 and $1,359.25 an ounce before settling at $1,350.15, down 1.75 or 0.13% on the session. Gold, which has closed in positive territory in nine of the last 13 sessions, is on pace to end the week marginally higher. The precious metal is coming off an exemplary first half of 2016, when it soared 25%, posting its strongest first two quarters of a year in three decades. Following Thursday's session, Gold remains near two-year highs from early-July.

Earlier on Thursday, figures from the World Gold Council revealed that consumer demand for the yellow metal soared to 1,064 tons over the first half of 2016, touching all-time highs. Notably, investment, not jewelry, served as the main driver for demand for the second consecutive quarter, according to the Council. The trend is unprecedented.

Gold likely gained support at $1,337.50, the low from July 20 and was met with resistance at $1,391.40, the high from March 14, 2014.

The dollar stayed mostly unchanged in Thursday's session, despite upbeat data concerning weekly jobless claims, which came on the heels of a robust monthly employment report for July. Last week, initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell by 1,000 to 266,000, lingering near historic lows. The four-week moving average, meanwhile, inched up by 3,500 to 262,750, demonstrating little change from recent reports.

Investors also reacted to optimistic quarterly results from Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) and Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) on Thursday ahead of the release of monthly retail sales data by the U.S. Census Bureau. Shares in Macy's soared as much as 15%, after the major department store reported a lower than expected decline in same-store sales in the second quarter and outlined a plan to close 100 stores in a massive turnaround initiative. On Friday, the Census Bureau is expected to report an increase of 0.4% in retail sales last month, following a gain of 0.6% in June. Additionally, the University of Michigan could report a slight uptick in consumer sentiment in July in the wake of a sharp decline of 3.5 points a month earlier.

In February, the National Retail Federation estimated that retail sales (excluding automobile, gas and restaurant purchases) will rise 3.1% for 2016. Over the last decade, the 10-year average came in at annual growth of 2.7%.

The Federal Reserve continues to closely monitor incoming economic data, as it weighs a decision in September on the timing of its next interest rate hike. Last month, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) reiterated that it will tighten monetary policy gradually if the economy demonstrates improvement in the coming months.

Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bearish for Gold, which struggles to compete with high-yield bearing assets in rising rate environments.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, edged up to an intraday high of 95.87 in U.S. afternoon trading. Since hitting a four-month high at 97.62 in late-July, the Dollar has fallen back by nearly 2%.

Dollar-denominated commodities such as Gold become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.

Silver for September delivery fell 0.117 or 0.58% to 20.053 an ounce.

Copper for September delivery gained 0.020 or 0.92% to 2.191 a pound.

Source by Investing.com

Finland stocks higher at close of trade; OMX Helsinki 25 up 0.52%

Stock market

Finland stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Goods and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Helsinki, the OMX Helsinki 25 rose 0.52% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the OMX Helsinki 25 were Cargotec Oyj (HE:CGCBV), which rose 3.63% or 1.47 points to trade at 41.98 at the close. Meanwhile,Nokian Renkaat Oyj (HE:NRE1V) added 1.88% or 0.63 points to end at 34.21 andKonecranes Oyj (HE:KCR1V) was up 1.77% or 0.47 points to 27.07 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sampo Oyj A (HE:SAMAS), which fell 1.40% or 0.54 points to trade at 37.96 at the close. Outokumpu Oyj (HE:OUT1V) declined 1.01% or 0.0550 points to end at 5.3850 and Outotec Oyj (HE:OTE1V) was down 0.30% or 0.012 points to 4.042.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Helsinki Stock Exchange by 104 to 70 and 17 ended unchanged.

Shares in Cargotec Oyj (HE:CGCBV) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 3.63% or 1.47 to 41.98.

Brent oil for October delivery was up 4.93% or 2.17 to $46.22 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 4.89% or 2.04 to hit $43.75 a barrel, while the December Gold contract fell 0.01% or 0.15 to trade at $1351.75 a troy ounce.

EUR/USD was down 0.18% to 1.1159, while EUR/GBP rose 0.21% to 0.8610.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 95.71.

Source by Investing.com