Allianz Profit Surges 80 Percent After Insurer Sold German Shareholdings

(Bloomberg) -- Allianz SE, Europe's biggest insurer, said first-quarter profit surged 80 percent, boosted by gains from the sale of shareholdings in Germany.

Net income climbed to 3.2 billion euros ($4.35 billion) from 1.78 billion euros in the year-ago period, Munich-based Allianz said in a statement distributed by the DGAP newswire today. That beat the 2.4 billion-euro median estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg via telephone and e-mail.


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World Bank ethics chief disputes Wolfowitz claims

(Reuters) - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz broke staff rules when he intervened directly in the personnel matters of his girlfriend even though he said he wanted no part in a deal to transfer her outside the bank, the head of a bank ethics panel at the time said on Tuesday.

In a statement to a bank committee examining Wolfowitz's role in arranging a high-paid promotion for his girlfriend, the former official, Ad Melkert, said it would have been better if Wolfowitz had instructed one of his deputies to handle the transfer for Shaha Riza, to avoid conflict of interest issues.


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Alliance Boots says year profit up 7.4 pct

(Reuters) - Alliance Boots, created from the merger of drug store chain Boots and drugs wholesaler Alliance Unichem in July 2006, agreed last month to a takeover by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [KKR.UL] and deputy chairman and biggest shareholder Stefano Pessina in an 11.1 billion pound deal.

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Coal & Allied Cuts Hunter Valley Output 20 Percent on Port, Rail Capacity

(Bloomberg) -- Coal & Allied Industries Ltd., an Australian thermal coal producer controlled by Rio Tinto Group, will cut production by 20 percent this year because of reduced port and rail export capacity.

The company will cut 250 contractor jobs after Newcastle Port cut the share of capacity it allocates to Coal & Allied, the Brisbane-based company said today in a statement. Thermal coal is used in power stations.


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Dollar hits 2-mth high vs yen on solid U.S. data

(Reuters) - The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity rose to 54.7 in April from 50.9 in March. The reading was the highest since May 2006.

Although separate data released on Tuesday showed that pending sales of existing U.S. homes in March fell to their lowest level in four years, the upbeat manufacturing report was enough to give the dollar a boost, traders and analysts said.


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Indonesia May Boost Palm Export Tax to Cut Cooking Oil Cost, Official Says

(Bloomberg) -- The government in Indonesia, the world's second-largest palm-oil grower last year, may double the export levy on shipments unless producers set aside enough to prevent inflated prices of cooking oil, an official said.

``The vice president will decide to lift the export duty in June'' unless cooking oil prices are 6,500 to 6,800 rupiah a kilogram by the end of May, Djoko Said Damarjati, director general of marketing for agricultural products, said today.


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TREASURIES-Little moved in Asia in thin trade before jobs

(Reuters) - Due to recent mixed U.S. data, the market was likely to react more sensitively to indicators exceeding forecasts, analysts said.

In a rangebound market, investors will likely keep hunting for bonds at lower prices rather than chasing prices higher, they said.


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