OIL PRICES ON THE MARCH AGAIN - Oil prices have continued to rise overnight with New York crude gaining on yesterday's jump of $5.62. New York crude this morning is priced at $121.44. The cause of the increase rests with tense relations of recent weeks between Russia and Europe and the US.
Paul Harris of Bank of Ireland Global Markets said the market's focus in July and early August was on how the economic downturn, in the US in particular, would affect demand for oil. But he said the preoccupation now was on supply, with Russia the biggest producer outside OPEC.
Mr Harris said OPEC was engaged in a balancing act - trying to maintain demand while still receiving a good price for oil. He said Venezuela and Iran had already signalled that they wanted to look at production levels at a meeting in September.
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NEWS AND MARKETS - A report this morning from Hewitt Associates finds chief executives of companies listed on the Irish stock exchange reported an average 12% basic pay rise last year. But total remuneration was up over 30% because of bonus payments linked to performance.
Hewitt says the percentage of total pay for the best paid executives in Ireland's plcs which is linked to performance stands at 40%, with more companies using longer-term incentive plans.
Trading of shares in Aryzta, the company formed by the merger of IAWS and Swiss bakery group Hiestand, begins in Dublin this morning. IAWS owns Cuisine de France. The company is also to be listed on the Zurich stock exchange.
The Nikkei index of Japanese shares closed more than 0.5% lower at 12,666. On the currency markets the euro is worth $1.4883 and 79.34p sterling.
