SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) – Share prices closed at new record highs as investor sentiment was boosted by the overnight decision of the FOMC to leave interest rates unchanged at 5.25 pct, and to paint a brighter outlook for US economic growth and inflation, dealers said.

They added that the overnight rise of base metal prices supported the resources sector while leading banks also gained.

The S&P;/ASX 200 advanced 40.7 points or 0.70 pct to a record close of of 5,814.1, just beating Tuesday’s record close of 5,812.5. The key index closed off the day’s high of 5,816.2 and above the day’s low of 5,781.3.

The broader All Ordinaries index rose 39.1 points to a new record close of 5,796.8, surpassing Tuesday’s record of 5,791.5.

Dealers said diversified global miner Rio Tinto climbed ahead of an expected record annual profit of around 7.4 bln usd for 2006 due to be announced at 0600 GMT.

News of a planned 860 mln usd expansion of the Cape Lambert iron ore export port in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, also underpinned the stock’s gains.

However, Rio Tinto majority-owned uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia fell after reporting a 19.7 pct drop in 2006 production from its Ranger mine.

Alumina rose after reporting a 62 pct rise in 2006 net profit to 511 mln aud.

Construction group Leighton Holdings, advanced on its plans to acquire 40 pct of property developer Devine for 94.7 mln aud.

(1 usd = 1.29 aud)

paul.daniel@xfn.com

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO) concealed a faulty pump designed to cool the reactor core in case of an emergency at one of its nuclear power plants in order to pass a government inspection, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

The newspaper, citing a report submitted to he Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said that a motor that drives the emergency core cooling system at TEPCO’s Niigata plant failed a day before a regular inspection in May 1992.

But the company passed the inspection by taking steps to make sure that the government inspectors did not notice the malfunction, such as by turning on a light that indicates that the system is operating normally.

There have been 199 cases in which data was altered at three nuclear power plants in order pass regular inspections, the Nikkei said.

(1 usd = 120.70 yen)

yasuhiko.seki@xfn.com

BRUSSELS (AFX) – The European Commission said it has cleared CVC Capital Partner’s acquisition of investment fund Eurazeo’s freight vehicle hire company Fraikin.

Eurazeo owns 55 pct of Fraikin. Other shareholders are Rhone Group with 19 pct, the Pragma funds with 13.75 pct and WestLB with 9.79 pct.

The deal was examined under the EU’s ‘simplified’ merger review procedure; cases which the commission believes do not pose competition concerns.

nina.chestney@afxnews.com

nc/nc/jag

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STOCKHOLM (AFX) – Sweden’s Forsmark nuclear power plant fails to meet standard safety requirements, according to a critical internal report made public six months after a serious incident at the plant.

The internal report, written by Forsmark technicians and released late on Monday, cites ‘a degradation of the company’s security culture over a long period of time’.

An electricity failure at the plant on July 25, 2006, led to the immediate shutdown of the Forsmark 1 reactor after two of four backup generators, which supply power to the reactor’s cooling system, malfunctioned for about 20 minutes.

Some experts have suggested that a potentially catastrophic reactor meltdown was narrowly avoided at the plant, located on Sweden’s east coast. But Swedish authorities have classed it a level-two incident on a scale from zero to seven.

The internal report said lax security has led to ‘potentially fatal accidents’. It cited among other things a nitrogen gas leak, employees handling live electrical wires, falls in the workplace and employees sent home for failing sobriety tests.

The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate said it has asked prosecutors to investigate whether the Forsmark operator, FKA, broke the law in its response to the malfunction.

When the power supply failed, the reactor was kept warm until the next day. Under regulations, the reactor is supposed to be cooled down as soon as possible.

Green Party spokeswoman Maria Wetterstrand called for an international independent inquiry into Swedish nuclear safety and said Forsmark’s chief executive ought to be replaced.

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afp/ic

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SEOUL (XFN-ASIA) – South Korea has announced plans to spend 2.44 trln won over five years to build homegrown light-water nuclear reactors and develop fuel technology.

‘If this five-year plan succeeds, South Korea will have core technology for nuclear power and be allowed to export the technology,’ said Kim Young-Shik, director of the science ministry’s nuclear bureau.

South Korea is ranked sixth after the US, France, Japan, Russia and Germany in terms of the use of nuclear technology and safety, the ministry said.

The country operates 19 nuclear plants which generate about 40 pct of its electricity. It hopes to boost its reliance on nuclear energy to 60 pct by 2035.

(1 usd = 940.25 won)

afp

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Sweden’s nuclear authority on Monday asked prosecutors to investigate whether the operator of a nuclear power plant broke the law in its response to a malfunction last year.

Two reactors at the Forsmark plant, 60 miles north of Stockholm, were shut down in July after two backup generators malfunctioned during a power failure. They went back on the grid two months later after security upgrades.

In its complaint to prosecutors, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate said plant managers acted too slowly in cooling down one of the reactors after the incident. Such a decision was not made until one day after the July 25 incident, the inspectorate said.

Prosecutors will now review the complaint and decide whether to press charges against the operator, Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB, for nuclear safety violations. The company is controlled by state-owned energy group Vattenfall AB.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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jfr

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WASHINGTON (AFX) – A proposed multi-billion dollar agreement by oil giants Repsol YPF SA of Spain and Royal Dutch Shell to help commercialise Iranian gas deposits could trigger US sanctions, a senior US official said.

The Iranian news agency ISNA reported on Sunday that Iran signed a preliminary agreement with Repsol and Shell to produce liquefied natural gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field in a deal worth some 10 bln usd.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the investment agreement, if confirmed, would likely trigger a US investigation and possible sanctions under US law.

The 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act requires the US president to impose sanctions on companies which invest more than 20 mln usd in Iran’s energy sector.

‘The people who deal with those laws on a daily basis in their application I’m sure will take a look at this particular deal,’ McCormack said of the reported agreement involving Repsol and Shell.

‘If there’s an investment greater than a certain amount, as specified in US law, then our folks, our lawyers, take a look at it and the policy-makers take a look at it, and see if there’s any further steps that we, as a government, take,’ he said.

McCormack refused to speculate on what possible sanctions Repsol and Shell, which has operations in the US, could face if they go through with the South Pars investment.

The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act lists six possible punitive measures, including the denial of US export licenses, credit guarantees and bank loans to entities found in contravention of the law.

The Iranian news agency quoted the head of the National Iranian Oil Company, Gholam Hossein Nozari, saying a final decision on the deal, which he described as the biggest project of its kind in Iran, would be made later this year.

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afp/jsa

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LYON (AFX) – The US agrochemical giant Monsanto was fined 15,000 eur (19,000 usd) in a French court for misleading the public about the environmental impact of its flagship herbicide Roundup.

A former chairman of Monsanto Agriculture France was found guilty of false advertising for presenting Roundup as biodegradable and claiming that it left the soil clean after use. Monsanto’s French distributor Scotts France was also fined 15,000 eur.

Environmental and consumer rights campaigners brought the case in 2001 on the basis that glyphosate, Roundup’s main ingredient, is classed as ‘dangerous for the environment’ and ‘toxic for aquatic organisms’ by the European Union.

Both defendants were ordered to pay damages of 5,000 eur to the Brittany Water and Rivers association and 3,000 eur to the CLCV consumers group.

The water association said the verdict, which is to be published in the influential Le Monde daily, ‘puts an end to Monsanto’s lies’ and was ‘excellent news for water protection’.

A spokesman for Monsanto France, which plans to appeal, said the have rdict does not call into question the usefulness of the Roundup range of products’.

‘There is a relationship of trust between our products and their users and we believe that consumers will continue to use Roundup.’

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afp/joy

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LONDON (AFX) – Senior banker Andrea Madarassy today had her 1 mln stg sex discrimination legal action against Nomura International unanimously rejected at the Appeal Court.

Hungarian-born Madarassy was ordered to pay Nomuras legal costs — estimated at 300,000 stg, with 80,000 stg due within 28 days — but is backed by the Equal Opportunities Commission, which is footing the bill.

The three sitting judges refused her leave to take the long-running dispute to the House of Lords. Their decision upholds the earlier findings of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which said in April last year that no sex discrimination had occurred.

Madarassy had claimed her bosses at Nomura International ‘abused and humiliated’ her while she was pregnant and made her redundant after she gave birth.

She joined Nomura’s equity capital market division in January, 2000, and was made redundant in September, 2001.

Speaking after the court’s decision, Madarassy said she was disappointed by the outcome but thought it important to ‘raise the issue of the treatment of pregnant women in the workplace, particularly in the City’.

Nomura International’s Stephen Sidebottom said the company’s decision to defend the case had been vindicated.

‘We have maintained throughout that Andrea was not discriminated against – neither for being a woman nor a mother – when made redundant in 2001, and at every stage the courts have agreed,’ he said.

‘We recognise that accepting the loss of ones job, for whatever reason, can be difficult and hope todays judgment will encourage Andrea to put these years of litigation behind her’.

Meanwhile, the Appeal Court judges also upheld the tribunal’s ruling Madarassy pay 2,000 stg to Nomura towards their Tribunal costs.

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ro/am/cw

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