Live Financial And Business News By SaneBull

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police warned the opposition on Tuesday to avoid using an anti-U.S. rally on November 4 to revive protests against the clerical establishment, the official IRNA news agency reported.

MARRAKESH, Morocco (Reuters) - The United States will deliver on President Barack Obama's promise of a "new start" with the world's Muslims by offering fresh programs to promote entrepreneurship, economic development and education, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.

MARRAKESH, Morocco (Reuters) - The United States will step up support for businesses, vulnerable young people, local governments and associations under President Barack Obama's plan for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday the Islamic state would not be deceived into reconciliation with its arch foe and the United States was a "really arrogant power," state radio reported.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Foreign Ministry called on Monday for direct talks with its long-time foe, the United States, and said it was ready to return to stalled six-way nuclear disarmament negotiations.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The prices of investment-grade commercial real estate rose more than 4 percent in the third quarter, possibly signaling an end to the sector's year-long downward spiral, according to an leading property index released on Tuesday.

(Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 down 0.9-1.1 percent.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell more than $1 per barrel toward $77 on Tuesday as the dollar rose against a basket of currencies and as stock markets slipped in Europe and Asia.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS does not expect to win back assets from rich clients any time soon as it struggles to rebuild its reputation after a bitter U.S. tax row even as its underlying performance improves.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's two largest retail lenders have agreed to a massive shake-up of the banking sector that will see both sell hundreds of branches and key businesses to appease EU concerns over state aid and competition.

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group launched a record 13.5 billion-pound ($22 billion) rights issue on Tuesday and along with rival Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to sell off businesses as part of a complex deal to further boost capital while also meeting EU competition concerns over state aid.

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group will be partially broken up to satisfy Europe's competition watchdog, to compensate for taking state help.

(Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group launched a record 13.5 billion pound ($22 billion) rights issue and along with rival Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to sell off some businesses to appease EU competition concerns over state aid.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British government scheme to insure state-backed banks against credit losses will take on less than half the volume of toxic assets originally planned, under a deal unveiled on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Executives do not expect the U.S. commercial real estate market to emerge from critical condition any time soon, according to a survey by The Real Estate Roundtable.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss Re said insured losses soared to$50 billion for the industry in 2008, making it the secondcostliest year ever.

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings sharesfell over 5 percent on Thursday to extend a 6-day retreat to 16percent as concern mounted it could raise capital or cut itsdividend to keep its balance sheet advantage.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc Chief Executive Edward Liddy has asked for more timebefore meeting with U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who has beencritical of the insurer and management in recent weeks.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spanish banking group Santander won permission from EU competition authorities onThursday to acquire assets including deposits and branches ofBritish mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley .

* Technical performance should see further improvements

* Private equity Hellman & Friedman pays off loan withstake

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Thursdayapproved Belgium's emergency 3.5 billion euro ($5 billion)recapitalisation of KBC , aimed at helping the bankingand insurance group through the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rules aimed at preventing creditcard holders from being hit by unfair and deceptive practicessuch as surprise fees and interest-rate hikes were approved onThursday by a U.S. banking regulator.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve bought $2.4billion of Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac and FederalHome Loan Banks debt in permanent coupon purchases on Thursdayin an ongoing effort to lower mortgage rates.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has boosted itslending after receiving government money and has set up acommittee of senior executives to make sure it is using thosefunds properly, according to an internal memo obtained byReuters.

* CVC fundraising for more than a year-sources* Buyout firms face tough infrastructure market

Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitionsand disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies werereported by 0954 GMT on Tuesday.

* Assemble shopping lists of favoured private equity firms

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Britain's Renewable EnergyHoldings is considering taking action against fellowrenewables company Novera Energy after the latter madean error in a shareholder document.In a circular last week setting out the reasons why theyshould reject a 90.5 million pound ($148 million) takeover bidfrom private-equity backed Infinis, Novera incorrectly statedthat REH was in the process of selling off all its assets.

* Units had gross annual revenue of $650 mln through June 30

MADRID, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Spain's Gas Natural hasbetween four to six bidders for assets worth about 1.5 billioneuros ($2.22 billion) and hopes to close their sale by the endof the year, La Vanguardia reported on Tuesday, citing sourcesclose to the process.

(in billions of won unless specified)

(Repeats story first issued late Monday. No changes to text)

NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group isthe largest foreign investor in China Haisheng Juice Holdings, a Chinese company suing Goldman archrival MorganStanley over a derivatives deal, the Financial Times reportedon its website on Monday.

* Unit GPC Capital to change name to Graham Packaging Co

* Merchants Securities to issue up to 360 million A shares

* Unit GPC Capital to change name to Graham Packaging Co

* Asia M&A to focus on China, emerging markets (Adds comments, details)

SHANGHAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Shanda Games Ltd ,China's top videogame company, said its revenue growth over thenext five years would average 18.4 percent annually and continueto outpace the industry.

HONG KONG, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The following are some of themajor companies planning initial public offerings on the HongKong stock exchange.

* IPO comes as hotel revs down but lodging stocks rising (Repeating item that initially moved on Friday)

SAO PAULO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Banco do Brasil ,Brazil's biggest bank, wants to fetch up to 10 billion reais($5.7 billion) in a share offering in the United States toreplenish its capital base, newspaper O Estado de S. Pauloreported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

* Price range is between $21 and $23 (Adds background about other private equity-backed IPOs,market)

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - TeleNav Inc, a SiliconValley-based provider of voice-guided navigation services formobile phones, filed plans with U.S. regulators on Friday toraise as much as $75 million in an initial public offering.

* IPO comes as hotel revs down but lodging stocks rising

Reuters has stopped distributing the full text of Moody'sInvestors Service press releases on ratings actions, effectiveApril 1, 2009. The text of this Moody's Investor Service ratingis available at www.moodys.com.

* Asia operations closed in late October-sources (Updates with no comment from TCI)

DUBAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Commercial Bank of Qatar ,the Gulf state's third-biggest by market value, will gauge U.S.investor's appetite for a potential bond issue at a roadshow onWednesday.

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Forced to plough another 30billion pounds ($49 billion) into the country's banks onTuesday, British finance minister Alistair Darling said thelatest cash boost would in the end secure a better deal for thetaxpayer.

Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following are top stories fromselected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified thesestories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

ALMATY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's largest lender,Kazkommertsbank , has repaid a $500 millionEurobond at maturity using own funds, it said on Tuesday.

* Q3 pretax profit falls to 1.1 bln DKK, beating forecast

* Broader freefloat preferable to trade, private equity deal

Reuters has stopped distributing the full text of Moody'sInvestors Service press releases on ratings actions, effectiveApril 1, 2009. The text of this Moody's Investor Service ratingis available at www.moodys.com.

HANOI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Vietnam hopes to raise $1 billionby early next year in its long-awaited second internationalbond issue that will cap the coupon at 7 percent, a financeministry official said on Tuesday.

* OGP was only source of China crude oil inventories data

(Corrects headline to show Swift Energy and Petrohawk Energyannounce joint venture)

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Talisman Energy Inc , Canada'sthird-largest independent oil explorer, said on Tuesday itsthird-quarter profit plummeted 98 percent as oil and gas pricestumbled from a year earlier.

BUDAPEST, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Canada's Falcon Oil saidthat tests on the Foldeak-1 natural gas well in the Mako Troughin southern Hungary had been completed and the well has beentemporarily plugged and abandoned.

BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp plans to process 205 million tonnes of crude in 2010,or about 4.1 million barrels per day (bpd), its president said onTuesday.

BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China OGP, an oil industrynewsletter issued by Xinhua news agency, will no longer publishdata on China's stockpiles of crude oil, gasoline and diesel, itsaid on Tuesday.

BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp expects to buy more than 50 million tonnes of crudefrom Saudi Aramco next year, Sinopec's president Wang Tianpu saidon Tuesday.

SYDNEY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A unit of top Thai energy firmPTTEP said on Tuesday it had stopped an oil leak and doused themain fire on the Montara and West Atlas oil rig in the TimorSea.

MUMBAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Shares in Reliance Industries, India's most valuable listed firm, fell more than 4percent on Tuesday while shares in Reliance Natural ResourcesBO> rose more than 14 percent.

BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp will add 12 to 15 million tonnes of refining capacityeach year in the next three years, its chief said on Tuesday.