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Australia's prime minister appointed Gary Gray, a former adviser to the country's largest oil and gas firm Woodside Petroleum, as resources minister on Monday.
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CARACAS, April 5- Venezuela said on Friday it raided an office containing the local representation of U.S.-based brokerage Oppenheimer& Co. on suspicion of illegal foreign currency trading.
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SEOUL/ NEW DELHI, April 5- Asian policymakers braced for a flood of capital unleashed by the Bank of Japan's huge monetary stimulus, but some conceded on Friday the impact on global money flows and currencies might prove to be a necessary side-effect to get the region's No.2 economy growing.
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*Korea tensions, Iran talks eyed. SINGAPORE, April 5- Brent steadied above $106 per barrel on Friday after hitting a 5- month low in the prior session, but prices were headed for their worst week since December as bleak U.S. data and bulging inventories dimmed the outlook for demand.
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*Korea tensions, Iran talks eyed. SINGAPORE, April 5- Brent crude edged up toward $107 per barrel on Friday after hitting a 5- month low in the prior session, but prices were headed for their worst week in a month as bleak U.S. data and bulging inventories dimmed the outlook for demand. Brent crude rose 13 cents to $106.47 a barrel by 0436 GMT, off an earlier high of $106.65.
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--Clyde Russell is a Reuters market analyst. That's the question that should be asked after Thursday's announcement by Royal Dutch Shell that it would close its Geelong refinery in Victoria state and convert it to an import terminal if a buyer couldn't be found.
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*Korea tensions, Iran talks eyed. SINGAPORE, April 5- Brent crude edged up toward $107 per barrel on Friday after hitting a 5- month low in the prior session, but prices were headed for their worst week in a month as bleak U.S. data and bulging inventories dimmed the outlook for demand. Brent rose 14 cents to $106.48 a barrel by 0236 GMT, off an earlier high of $106.65.
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SINGAPORE, April 5- London copper was steady on Friday, not far from 8- month lows hit the prior session, buttressed by the Bank of Japan's unprecedented stimulus and biding time ahead of a headline U.S. jobs report with top consumer China out on holiday. *Copper on Thursday plumbed its lowest since Aug. 3 at $7,331.25 a tonne.
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PERTH, April 5- U.S. crude futures rose on Friday in the wake of the Bank of Japan's decision to inject $1.4 trillion into the world's third largest economy, reversing widespread selling in oil markets the day before on a jump in U.S. jobless claims. *U.S. crude for May delivery had climbed 21 cents to $93.47 per barrel by 0047 GMT.
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SYDNEY, April 5- Revised takeover offers for Australia's Billabong International Ltd have come in considerably lower than indicative bids, with the highest valuing the struggling surwear firm at only A $287 million, the Australian Financial Review reported on Friday.
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**Deutsche Telekom is looking into improving the terms of a proposed merger of its T-Mobile USA unit with MetroPCS Communications PCS.N as a last resort to win over shareholders ahead of a vote on the deal next week, two people familiar with Deutsche Telekom's thinking said.
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that more than 325 patients have been treated with its drug Iclusig in the three months the leukemia pill has been on the market. Ariad believes European Union regulators will approve Iclusig during the second quarter, and by July 1 it will be prepared to launch the drug in Europe.
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LONDON, April 4- Rio Tinto has hired investment bank Macquarie to sell its majority stake in the Northparkes copper mine in Australia, a source familiar with the matter said, adding to a growing list of planned divestments.
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NEW YORK, April 4- The U.S. national weather forecaster reiterated on Thursday its forecast that the much-feared El Niño phenomenon is unlikely to affect the Northern Hemisphere weather into the summer months.
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*Brazil, Thai mills operating at near production cost. *Brazil cane area up, Russian beet acreage seen down. LONDON, April 4- Top sugar exporters Brazil and Thailand are raising production to cut costs in an effective price war, aggravating an already heavily oversupplied global market as values slide to the lowest levels in over 2-1/ 2 years.
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Saudi Aramco raised the official selling price for its main Arab Light grade for May to a premium of $1.80 a barrel over regional benchmark Oman/ Dubai crude, up from $1.30 for April cargoes, and the first increase in three months.
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SINGAPORE, April 4- Brent crude edged up above $107 on Thursday after its biggest fall in five months in the previous session, but prices stayed close to this year's low, as weak data and swelling inventories in top consumer the United States muddied the demand outlook.
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*Experts in daily talks on risks posed by new China virus. LONDON, April 4- Experts from around the world are in daily talks about the threat posed by a deadly new strain of bird flu in China, including discussions on if and when to start making a vaccine.
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SINGAPORE, April 4- Brent crude edged up above $107 on Thursday after its biggest fall in five months in the previous session, but prices stayed close to this year's low as weak data and swelling inventories in top consumer the United States muddied the demand outlook.
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SYDNEY, April 4- Australian retail sales surged expectations in the clearest sign yet that consumer demand is responding to lower interest rates. Clearly very strong, very surprising, "was the reaction of Stephen Walters, chief economist at JPMorgan, the data."
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*U.S. crude for May delivery rose 6 cents to $94.51 per barrel at 0104 GMT, after dropping by 2.8 percent on Wednesday, its steepest daily decline since Nov. 20. *The shutdown of Exxon Mobil's pipeline which moves crude oil from Illinois to the refinery-rich Texas Gulf Coast may curb efforts to relieve the glut of crude oil in the U.S.