Air France-KLM to name Jean-Marc Janaillac as new CEO: source

Air France-KLM to name Jean-Marc Janaillac as new CEO: source

PARIS (Reuters) - Air France-KLM's  board is to appoint Jean-Marc Janaillac as the Franco-Dutch airline group's next chief executive on Tuesday to replace Alexandre de Juniac, a source close to the matter said on Saturday.

Frederic Gagey would remain as head of Air France, the source said.

Sixty-three-year-old Janaillac, CEO of multi-modal transport company Transdev since 2012, first occupied a senior position in the airline industry when he was associate director general at now defunct airline AOM in the late 1990s. He is a graduate of France's elite administration school ENA and the HEC business school.

Air France-KLM declined to comment. Transdev was not immediately available for comment.

De Juniac announced his surprise departure to lead the International Air Transport Association (IATA) earlier this month, saying he had achieved his goals of ending losses and reducing debt, despite having three years left of his mandate.

People close to him said de Juniac had been worn down by conflict with the company's powerful unions. Others have said de Juniac, who served at the treasury under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, enjoyed only lukewarm support from the Socialist government over job cuts, an issue that could become a headache for his successor.

Air France-KLM's nomination committee on Friday decided to back Janaillac, the source said, paving the way for his nomination by the board on Tuesday.

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U.S. stocks post slight losses as Dow, S&P end April flat for the month

U.S. stocks post slight losses as Dow, S&P end April flat for the month

 U.S. stocks fell slightly on Friday, ending April with one of their worst weeks since early-February as a sell-off in the technology and health care sectors, as well as a wave of soft economic data weighed on the major indices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 57.12 or 0.32% to 17,773.64, while the S&P 500 Composite index fell 10.51 or 0.51% to 2,065.30, each closing lower despite a late rally in the final hour of the session. At session-lows, both indices moved into negative territory for the month before recovering to close the month fractionally higher. On the S&P 500, six of 10 sectors closed in the red. The SPDR XLV Health Care Sector ETF fell sharply, as Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) shares plunged more than 9% to 88.21 following worse than expected quarterly earnings. Shares in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (NYSE:VRX) also plummeted more than 5% to 33.37, after the embattled pharmaceutical company released its delayed annual report ahead of a deadline from U.S. federal regulators. In the report, Valeant disclosed that state officials in North Carolina have launched an investigation into the company's marketing and pricing practices. Valeant also noted that seven members of its Board of Directors have opted not to seek re-election later this year.

Stocks in the Utilities sector led, gaining more than 0.5% on the session, as inventors turned to high-dividend, defensive plays.

The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, fell 29.93 or 0.62% to 4,775.36, suffering its seventh consecutive losing session. A batch of disappointing quarterly results from Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corporation  dragged down the NASDAQ throughout the week, after the trio of tech giants severely missed earnings forecasts. Apple shares continued their descent on Friday, one day after billionaire investor Carl Icahn announced that he was exiting his position in the world's largest company due to heightened concerns with iPhone growth prospects in China. Consequently, the NASDAQ ended April down by more than 3%.

Adding to investor jitters, consumer confidence in the U.S. slumped to a 7-month low while Core PCE inflation fell slightly in March, potentially lowering the chances of a June interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The downbeat data also pushed the dollar to its lowest level since last July, bolstering commodity prices worldwide.

The VIX Volatility jumped more than two points to two-month highs at 17.09, before paring some of the gains late on Friday. For the week, the VIX jumped by more than 11%. Gold, which is viewed as a safe-haven for investors in periods of heightened economic instability, soared more than $25 an ounce to touch 15-month highs.

The top performer on the Dow was Home Depot Inc , which gained 1.16 or 0.87% to 133.89. The worst performer was Wal-Mart Stores Inc , which fell 2.04 or 2.96% to 66.87. Shares in the world's largest retailer are still down by more than 12% over the last year.

The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Monster Beverage , which surged more than 12% to 144.22. Earlier on Friday, the energy soft-drink company reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings, reaping the benefits from a comprehensive distribution deal with Coca-Cola Company. Amazon.com Inc  jumped 57.59 or 9.57% to 659.59 after reporting gains for the fourth straight quarter on Friday. Seagate Technology fell 5.13 or 19.07% to 21.77, after the data storage company provided lower revenue guidance and flat gross margin growth following weaker than expected earnings.

On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,736-1,296 margin.

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India's Mallya says willing to reach 'reasonable' debt settlement: FT

India's Mallya says willing to reach 'reasonable' debt settlemen

(Reuters) - Embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya wants a "reasonable" settlement with creditor banks to his defunct airline, he said in an interview in London published by the Financial Times on Friday.

Mallya, 60, flew first class from Delhi to London on March 2 at a time when the Indian government and mainly state-controlled banks are trying to recover $1.4 billion owed by his collapsed Kingfisher  Airlines Ltd .

"We have always been in dialogue with banks saying: 'We wish to settle'. But we wish to settle at a reasonable number that we can afford and banks can justify on the basis of settlements done before," Mallya told the newspaper in London.

"By taking my passport or arresting me, they are not getting any money," the newspaper quoted him as saying. 

Mallya said he was in "forced exile" and had no plans to leave Britain.

The Indian government wrote to its British counterpart on Thursday seeking the deportation of the liquor tycoon and Formula 1 motor racing boss, who is the target of a non-bailable warrant in a money laundering investigation.

He denied wrongdoing.

"I am absolutely not guilty of any of these preposterous charges of diverting funds from Kingfisher, buying properties or stuff like that," Mallya told the Financial Times.

An India-based spokesman for Mallya's UB Group said he had no further comment to make when contacted by Reuters.

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Saudi Arabia stocks lower at close of trade; Tadawul All Share down 0.21%

Saudi Arabia stocks lower at close of trade; Tadawul All Share down 0.21%

Saudi Arabia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Real Estate Development, Media & Publishing and Insurance sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share fell 0.21%.

The best performers of the session on the Tadawul All Share were Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication, which rose 9.76% or 0.40 points to trade at 4.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Saudi Advanced Industries Co. added 5.68% or 0.65 points to end at 12.10 and Saudi Chemical Company  was up 4.89% or 2.30 points to 49.30 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Arabia Insurance Cooperative Co, which fell 8.72% or 0.95 points to trade at 9.95 at the close. Saudi Indian Company Insurance declined 7.60% or 1.60 points to end at 19.45 and Solidarity Saudi Takaful Co  was down 7.39% or 0.75 points to 9.40.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange by 88 to 63 and 17 ended unchanged.

Crude oil for June delivery was down 0.07% or 0.03 to $45.30 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $46.93 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.64% or 7.95 to trade at $1258.35 a troy ounce.

EUR/SAR was up 0.18% to 4.2533, while USD/SAR fell 0.01% to 3.7504.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.50% at 93.91.

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Facebook revenue smashes expectations as mobile ad sales surge

Facebook revenue smashes expectations as mobile ad sales surge

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Anya George Tharakan

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc's quarterly revenue rose more than 50 percent, handily beating Wall Street expectations as its wildly popular mobile app and a push into live video lured new advertisers and encouraged existing ones to boost spending.

The company's shares rose 9.5 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $118.39, setting it on track to open at a new high on Thursday, at nearly triple its initial public offering four years ago.

Facebook also announced it will create a new class of non-voting shares in a move aimed at letting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media juggernaut he founded.

The company plans to create a new class of non-voting shares, which would be given as a dividend to existing shareholders. That would allow Zuckerberg, who wants to give away 99 percent of his wealth, to sell non-voting stock to fund philanthropy and keep the voting stock that assures his control.

Alphabet Inc passed a similar proposal in 2014 that ensured its founders' control by creating new non-voting shares.

Some 1.65 billion people used Facebook monthly as of March 31, up from 1.44 billion a year earlier. Zuckerberg said users were spending more than 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, a huge amount of time given the millions of apps available to users.

Advertisers are shifting money from television to web and mobile platforms, and Facebook is one of the biggest beneficiaries. It faces fierce competition in the mobile video market, where rivals Snapchat and YouTube also garner billions of video views every day.

Facebook recently expanded its live video product, rolling out several new features and making it more prominent on the app to encourage users to create videos and share them. The quarterly results showed success attracting advertisers with the move, and the company was able to expand its operating profit margin to 55 percent from 52 percent a year earlier.

"The company consistently 'warns' about higher spending, but they consistently manage their spending to deliver earnings upside. They're an impressive company, and they leave very little room for criticism," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who called the operating margin a good surprise.

Facebook did not offer details on sales of its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, but emphasized that it was early days and said that sales would not significantly impact 2016 revenue.

The results come after disappointments for investors from several major Silicon Valley firms.

"After Intel  and IBM  last week, and then Twitter and Apple yesterday, this is by far the best number I’ve seen in technology," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company which owns about $40 million worth of Facebook shares, commenting specifically about Facebook ad revenue.

Facebook has not begun advertising on some of its most popular apps. "They haven't yet turned on the monetization spigot for Messenger or WhatsApp, so there should be significant headroom still," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research.

The company's net income attributable to common shareholders nearly tripled to $1.51 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the first quarter from $509 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 77 cents per share, beating Wall Street's 62-cent consensus.

Total revenue rose to $5.38 billion from $3.54 billion, with ad revenue increasing 56.8 percent to $5.20 billion. Mobile ad revenue accounted for about 82 percent of total ad revenue, compared with about 73 percent a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected revenue of $5.26 billion.

If the stock proposal is approved - and Zuckerberg has a majority of voting stock - the company will effectively carry out a 3-for-1 stock split, issuing two shares of non-voting Class C capital stock as a one-time stock dividend for each share of Class A and Class B common stock.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced last year that they would give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares to fund charitable endeavors.

Investors said they were not concerned that Zuckerberg would have increasing control, pointing to the company's consistent ability to grow and exceed expectations.

"I honestly don't think anyone cares if he has more power, since he's done everything right since they went public," said Pachter.

(Story refiled to move extraneous words in paragraph 4)

(Additional editing by Noel Randewich; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Peter Henderson and Bernard Orr)

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France's Sanofi makes $9.3 billion bid for U.S. biotech Medivation

France's Sanofi makes $9.3 billion bid for U.S. biotech Medivation

PARIS (Reuters) - French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi said on Thursday it had made an all-cash offer to buy U.S. biotech firm Medivation in a deal worth about $9.3 billion.

Sanofi said in a statement it was proposing a non-binding proposal to buy Medivation for $52.50 per share, representing a 50 percent premium over the San Francisco-based firm's recent volume weighted average share price prior to takeover rumors.

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Banks need not sell excess shares, can internally adjust

Banks need not sell excess shares, can internally adjust

Siddique Islam and Mohammad Mufazzal

Banks detected with overexposures on the capital market need not sell off excess shares for compliance with legal limits within the stipulated timeframe as per fresh government policy support.  

Under the revised policy supports extended by the central bank, the banks are allowed to get their overexposures adjusted through restructuring the exposure components and enhancing the capital of their subsidiaries with some internal adjustments.

"No sale pressure will be created on the banks after providing such policy supports. The banks also need not sell off shares," the Bangladesh Bank said in an announcement made on Wednesday evening.

"It's a policy support to the banks for maintaining legal requirement within the stipulated timeframe," SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the BB, told the FE after the announcement.

The country's banks can now adjust their overexposure in the share-market investments within the permissible limit without amendment of the existing act, Mr. Sur Chowdhury explained.

The central bank earlier had asked the banks to bring down their overall capital-market investment within 25 per cent of total capital by July 21, 2016 in line with the Banking Companies (Amended) Act 2013.

According to the Banking Companies Act 1991 (Amended 2013), total capital comprises four components: paid-up capital, balance in share- premium account, statutory reserves and retained earnings, as stated in the latest audited financial statements.

While calculating total investment in capital market different components like all types of shares, debentures, corporate bonds, mutual fund units and other capital-market securities will be taken into account.

Currently, 8-10 commercial banks are maintaining more than 25 per cent market exposures while all banks' exposures stood at 23 per cent, another BB official said.

"We expect that such policy supports will help in bringing stability in the country's share market," the central banker explained.

According to the central bank, all banks' capital-market exposure was worth Tk 161 billion that dwindled by Tk 65 billion recently following the subtraction of banks' equity investments made in their subsidiaries.

Earlier, the central bank excluded the banks' equity investments from their market exposure in a bid to increase liquidity on the bourses.

Stakeholders hailed the latest BB moves, hoping that it will help enliven the country's securities-hungry capital market to some extent.

Md. Rakibur Rahman, a former Dhaka Stock Exchange president and incumbent director, said they were concerned about sale pressure related to adjustment of banks' overexposure.

"I appreciate the BB's policy supports. It will be positive for the capital market if the banks' overexposures are adjusted without needing to sell shares," said Mr. Rahman, terming the BB attitude market-oriented.

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Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.36%

Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.36%

Japan stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Transportation Equipment, Railway & Bus and Electrical/Machinery sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.36%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were IHI Corp., which rose 4.33% or 11.0 points to trade at 265.0 at the close. Meanwhile, SUMCO Corp. added 4.17% or 30.0 points to end at 750.0 and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. was up 3.92% or 246.0 points to 6518.0 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Canon Inc., which fell 5.26% or 178.0 points to trade at 3203.0 at the close. JFE Holdings, Inc. declined 3.58% or 63.0 points to end at 1696.0 and Fanuc Corp. was down 3.20% or 605.0 points to 18325.0.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 991 to 875 and 133 ended unchanged.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 4.45% to 29.23.

Crude oil for June delivery was up 1.11% or 0.49 to $44.53 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 1.21% or 0.55 to hit $46.13 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.35% or 4.35 to trade at $1247.75 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.14% to 111.15, while EUR/JPY fell 0.05% to 125.74.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 94.40.

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Portugal stocks lower at close of trade; PSI 20 down 0.75%

Portugal stocks lower at close of trade

Portugal stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Financials, Technology and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Lisbon, the PSI 20 lost 0.75%.

The best performers of the session on the PSI 20 were CTT Correios de Portugal SA, which rose 1.45% or 0.1160 points to trade at 8.0950 at the close. Meanwhile, Pharol SGPS SA added 1.42% or 0.0020 points to end at 0.1430 and Portucel was up 0.94% or 0.0290 points to 3.1200 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Banco Comercial Portugues, which fell 6.37% or 0.0026 points to trade at 0.0382 at the close. Corticeira Amorim declined 4.31% or 0.280 points to end at 6.220 and Sonae Capital  was down 1.68% or 0.0120 points to 0.7030.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Lisbon Stock Exchange by 27 to 20 and 3 ended unchanged.

Brent oil for July delivery was up 2.80% or 1.24 to $45.56 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 3.05% or 1.30 to hit $43.94 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.25% or 3.15 to trade at $1243.35 a troy ounce.

EUR/USD was up 0.35% to 1.1308, while EUR/GBP fell 0.48% to 0.7743.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 94.41.

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Indonesia stocks lower at close of trade; IDX Composite Index down 1.33%

Indonesia stocks lower at close of trade

Indonesia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Infrastructure, Financials and Consumer Industry sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Jakarta, the IDX Composite Index fell 1.33%.

The best performers of the session on the IDX Composite Index were Bayu Buana Tbk, which rose 22.22% or 200 points to trade at 1100 at the close. Meanwhile, Golden Energy Mines Tbk added 20.64% or 290 points to end at 1695 and Eka Sari Lorena Transport Tbk was up 20.54% or 23.00 points to 135.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Eratex Djaja Tbk , which fell 10.00% or 130 points to trade at 1170 at the close. Duta Anggada Realty Tbk  declined 10.00% or 45 points to end at 405 and Steady Safe TBK PT  was down 10.00% or 15 points to 135.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by 202 to 110 and 61 ended unchanged.

Read More How one Russian oligarch beat the crisis..............

Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.77% or 0.33 to $42.97 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 0.86% or 0.38 to hit $44.70 a barrel, while the June Gold contract fell 0.33% or 4.15 to trade at $1236.05 a troy ounce.

USD/IDR was down 0.09% to 13200.0, while AUD/IDR fell 0.19% to 10177.50.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.24% at 94.51.

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Marico recommends 50pc final cash div

FE Online Report

The Board of Directors of Marico Bangladesh has recommended 50 percent final cash dividend in addition to the total 400 percent interim cash dividend i.e. total 450 percent for the financial year ended on March 31, 2016.

The annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on July 26 at 9:30am at Hotel Le Meridien in Dhaka. The record date is on May 22. The company has also reported earnings per share (EPS) of Tk 44.89, net asset value (NAV) per share of Tk. 54.25 and net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) of Tk. 68.30 for the year ended on March 31, 2016 as against Tk. 42.69, Tk. 54.35 and Tk. 12.94 respectively for the year ended on March 31, 2015. There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the Company today (Tuesday) following its corporate declaration

.

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New Zealand shares fall ahead of Fed meeting

New Zealand shares fall ahead of Fed meeting

New Zealand shares fell on Tuesday ahead of Policy decisions by the US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).

The banks are dampening appetite for risk assets, traders and analysts said.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.7 per cent or 46.56 points to 6,819.55.

Banks were mixed with ANZ down 0.7 per cent, according to a news agency report.

-SRS-

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How one Russian oligarch beat the crisis and made a fortune

How one Russian oligarch beat the crisis and made a fortune

By Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON (Reuters) - As Russia was descending into financial crisis, some of its most influential oil and stocks traders gathered at the exclusive River Club in central Moscow at the invitation of state lender Sberbank.

It was December 2014, and the future looked bleak as oil prices tumbled, but Sberbank had a special cause for celebration.

"We have just performed a pretty unique deal for Russia," a Sberbank manager told guests, explaining that the lender had completed a transaction to protect a big client against oil price falls just as crude went into a tailspin. He did not name the client.

The beneficiary of the scheme, bankers and oil industry figures told Reuters, was Russian magnate Mikhail Gutseriyev who by hedging - essentially, taking out an insurance policy against the price of crude falling - made hundreds of millions of dollars.

The deal was a milestone for Russia's energy industry. While hedges on the scale of the scheme set up for Gutseriyev are used by U.S. and British oil firms, Russian oil executives have traditionally steered clear of such complex financial transactions.

It was a lucrative scheme borne out of adversity: while others in the Russian industry avoided hedges, Gutseriyev had no option because he was beholden to his biggest creditor.

"Gutseriyev had large debts to Sberbank and was effectively told to hedge going into 2015 by Gref," said one industry source familiar with the deal, referring to Sberbank's chief executive, German Gref.

Maxim Poletayev, Sberbank's first deputy chairman, confirmed to Reuters that the deal had been struck with Gutseriyev in 2014. He said Sberbank had sold the hedge contract on to a foreign banking syndicate shortly after.

Gutseriyev and Russneft, the energy company he controls, did not reply to repeated emails with questions about the deal.

The deal could help explain why Gutseriyev was able to afford to embark on a buying spree that has included banking assets and multi-million-dollar property developments at a time when his Russian energy industry peers have been retrenching.

His wealth was on display at the extravagant Moscow wedding of his son Said in March, when performers included Sting, Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias.

WINDFALL

The hedge allowed Gutseriyev's oil firm Neftisa, which was spun off from Russneft, to effectively pre-sell 50 million barrels of future oil production in 2015 at around $85 per barrel.

At the time the deal was being worked out in the third and fourth quarters of 2014, oil was trading at between $110 and $85 per barrel, meaning he was making a short-term loss. But he was in the black again once oil slipped below the $85 mark, and kept falling. It averaged slightly over $50 per barrel in 2015.

In 2015 alone, Neftisa made $1.75 billion more in revenues than if it had stayed unhedged, according to Reuters calculations.

The deal was another twist in a tumultuous career that saw Gutseriyev start out as a warehouse porter, build a business empire, and almost lose it, before beginning an ascent to the top table of Russian business.

Gutseriyev, whose family is from the Russian region of Ingushetia, started a banking business in neighboring Chechnya around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s he was appointed president of state-owned oil firm Slavneft and, when it was privatized, ended up owning some of its assets. This was the foundation of his oil company Russneft.

He built up the firm with help from Swiss commodities giant Glencore, which lent him $2 billion in exchange for minority stakes in Russneft's subsidiaries and the right to export its crude, and with loans provided by Sberbank.

In 2006, Gutseriyev's company was accused of tax evasion. A year later, he was forced to sell Russneft at a fraction of his own estimates for its value, and fled to London when criminal charges were brought against him over the alleged tax evasion.

He has always denied any wrongdoing.

Without any explanation from the authorities or the businessman, Gutseriyev was allowed to return to Russia in 2010 and even fully regain control of Russneft.

"Justice does exist. I returned to the motherland and cleared my name," Gutseriyev said in an interview with Russia's RBC newspaper last year.

Speaking about his buying spree over the past 12 months, he told the paper the economic crisis in Russia had created cheap assets that could be picked up by a businessman who was committed to staying in the country.

"I'm not a rat to flee a sinking ship," he said.

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Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.31%

Australia stocks lower at close of trade

Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.31%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Rea Group Ltd, which rose 3.71% or 1.860 points to trade at 52.010 at the close. Meanwhile, Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd added 3.45% or 0.020 points to end at 0.600 and Austal Ltd  was up 3.27% or 0.050 points to 1.580 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Broadspectrum Ltd, which fell 10.20% or 0.128 points to trade at 1.123 at the close. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) declined 6.25% or 0.210 points to end at 3.150 and Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd was down 5.65% or 0.085 points to 1.420.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 569 to 466 and 342 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 8.41% to 17.922.

Gold for June delivery was down 0.17% or 2.10 to $1238.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.21% or 0.09 to hit $42.73 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.10 to trade at $44.42 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.06% to 0.7710, while AUD/JPY fell 0.33% to 85.51.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 94.73.

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Japan stocks lower at close of trade

Japan stocks lower at close of trade

Japan stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Gas & Water and Fishery sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.76%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Sharp Corp. (T:6753), which rose 5.54% or 8.0 points to trade at 152.5 at the close. Meanwhile, Yaskawa Electric Corp. (T:6506) added 4.83% or 63.0 points to end at 1368.0 and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (T:8725) was up 4.34% or 135.0 points to 3244.0 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sony Corp. (T:6758), which fell 6.02% or 181.5 points to trade at 2835.5 at the close. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T:7211) declined 4.97% or 25.0 points to end at 478.5 and Nichirei Corp. (T:2871) was down 4.89% or 48.0 points to 933.0.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1117 to 733 and 150 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (T:7211) fell to all time lows; losing 4.97% or 25.0 to 478.5.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 3.09% to 29.99.

Crude oil for June delivery was down 0.41% or 0.18 to $43.55 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 0.31% or 0.14 to hit $44.93 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 0.48% or 5.95 to trade at $1235.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.44% to 111.23, while EUR/JPY fell 0.29% to 125.04.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.18% at 94.94.

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