A round-up of today's other news stories in brief.
Construction jobs growth accelerates
Employment growth in the construction sector accelerated in June from the previous month, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said, as demand for property continued to rise.
The CSO's index of employment in construction showed the number of jobs in the sector expanding at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent in June, up from a revised rate of 2.5 per cent in May. However, the pace of employment growth has cooled markedly from the start of last year, when it was running at more than 4 per cent.
Figures released earlier this week indicated that construction activity picked up across the economy in July, boosted by the rate of growth in housing and in civil engineering.
Opec analyst joins Pan Andean
Oil exploration group Pan Andean Resources named Opec's principal oil supply analyst, Venezuelan national Ivan Sandrea, to its board of directors as the Dublin-based company pursues expansion in Latin America. Mr Sandrea, an exploration geologist, is a former associate vice president of oil and gas at Merrill Lynch in London.
China lifts interest rates a second time
China yesterday lifted interest rates for the second time in four months in an effort to grapple with runaway credit and investment expansion that the government fears is delivering unbalanced growth and fuelling an already large trade surplus.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said it had raised both benchmark lending and deposit rates by 0.27 percentage points, lifting them to 6.12 and 2.52 per cent respectively. - (Financial Times service)
Ocuco joins with rival Relcon
Dublin-based Ocuco has merged with rival optical software group Relcon Software in a bid to become the world's largest supplier of optical software.
Ocuco-Relcon will be the largest optical company outside the US, with combined revenues of more than $8 million (€6.2 million) last year. Its products will cover both optical retail and laboratory systems, as well as pharmacy and ophthalmology from more than 1,000 sites across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
PIBA awards Ergo Software a contract
PIBA Mortgage Services, a non-profit company that will bring together 500 mortgage brokers when it opens next month, awarded Ergo Software Solutions a contract to provide an online mortgage application system.
The aim of the system is to reduce the time and bureaucracy incurred when applying for a mortgage by enabling all stages of the application to be processed online. Ergo is developing a web-based tool that will allow PIBA to electronically process the applications securely.
Tom Hunter to join Baugur in bid
Scottish investor Tom Hunter is to join Icelandic investor Baugur in a formal £350 million (€513 million) bid for UK retailer House of Fraser early next week, a source close to the situation said yesterday.- (Reuters )
US oil rises as Iran remains steadfast
Oil bounced back yesterday as major Opec producer Iran showed no sign of responding favourably to incentives aimed at resolving a nuclear row by a self-imposed August 22nd deadline.
US crude rose $1.08 to end at $71.14 a barrel last night. - (Reuters)
