Hedge funds posted a 1.65 per cent gain in July, driven by a stock market rally which helped reduce their losses for the year to date, data provider HFR said on Friday.

China’s export growth unexpectedly picked up speed in July, offering an encouraging boost to the economy as its struggles to recover from a Covid-induced slump, but weakening global demand could start to drag on shipments in coming months.

The Bank of England looks set to become the first major central bank to sell some of the government bonds it purchased during more than a decade of quantitative easing, with a 40 billion pound ($49 billion) sales programme likely to start next month.

The Local Government Covid-19 Response and Recovery Project will benefit 39.9 million urban residents in all eight divisions, the World Bank said in a statement today.

The Bank of England is trying to maintain flexibility on its options for changing interest rates and investors should not assume it is set to do more big rate hikes, BoE Chief Economist Huw Pill said on Friday.

People in Germany have to save at least 20 per cent of their energy consumption to avoid a gas shortage by December due to falling Russian gas flows, Germany’s network regulator head Klaus Mueller said.

EU sanctions against Russia do nothing to prevent the delivery of pipeline turbine, an EU spokesman said Friday, accusing Moscow of fabricating an excuse to cut off gas supplies.

US job growth unexpectedly accelerated in July, lifting the level of employment above its pre-pandemic level and pouring cold water on fears the economy was in recession.

Three bulk carriers loaded with grain set sail from Ukraine on Friday under a landmark deal to free up shipments brokered by Turkey, as its leader met his Russian counterpart for talks on Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.

Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world’s most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs.

The Reserve Bank of India’s key policy repo rate was raised by 50 basis points on Friday, the third increase in the current cycle to cool stubbornly high inflation that has remained above the central bank’s tolerance band for six straight months.

Elon Musk has accused Twitter of fraud, alleging the social media platform misled him about key aspects of its business before he agreed to a $44 billion buyout, as their court fight heats up.

Oil prices settled higher on Friday, recouping some of this week’s losses on strong US job growth data, but closed the week at their lowest levels since February, rattled by worries a recession could hit fuel demand.

In light of the government’s  latest decision to increase prices of fuel across the country from today (August 6), let’s have a look at fuel prices (per litre) in the major economies of the world as well as Bangladesh’s neighbouring countries.

Sri Lanka is considering a restructure of local and sovereign debt, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday, as the island nation battles its worst financial crisis in its independent history.

In the weeks that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, western Europe's big economies began to falter. But further east it was still boom-time thanks to double-digit wage hikes and generous state handouts in some countries.

Eleven Bangladeshi and six Turkish companies have come together to establish the new Bangladesh-Türkiye Business Forum (BTBF) at a meeting hosted by the Turkish embassy in Dhaka.

Oil prices were broadly steady on Thursday as the market weighed tight supply against fears of a demand slowdown, after a build in US crude and gasoline stocks sent prices to multi-month lows in the previous session.

China’s Ant Group on Wednesday logged net profit of 11.38 billion yuan ($1.68 billion) in the quarter to March, down 17.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s, earnings report.

Chinese military exercises around Taiwan are set to disrupt one of the world’s busiest shipping zones, analysts told AFP, highlighting the island’s critical position in already stretched global supply chains.