Nikkei hits 7-year closing high; tech, machine stocks up

(Reuters) - But shares of real estate firms such as Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate weighed on the market after the data fuelled concern about higher interest rates.




Shares of Sony Corp. ended down a touch after a company executive told Reuters in an interview in San Francisco that it plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 consoles in the United States by $100, or 17 percent, to $500.


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CVC Capital Partners to Buy Chemical Distributor Univar for $2.07 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- CVC Capital Partners Ltd., Europe's
second-biggest buyout firm, agreed to pay 1.52 billion euros
($2.07 billion) for Univar NV, the largest distributor of
chemicals in the U.S.

CVC, based in London, will buy Univar for 53.50 euros a
share, the Dutch chemical company said in a statement today.
That's 37 percent more than the closing share price last week.


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Australian Shares Climb to Record, Led by BHP Billiton on Higher Oil Price

(Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks rose, pushing the
S&P/ASX 200 Index to a record high. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Santos
Ltd. gained as oil prices traded near a 10-month high.

Rio Tinto Group advanced on a report it may bid for Alcan
Inc., while Zinifex Ltd. jumped on speculation of a combination
with Oxiana Ltd.


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German Stocks Rise; Shares of Henkel, ThyssenKrupp, Bayer Pace Advance

(Bloomberg) -- German stocks advanced, led by Henkel
KGaA, ThyssenKrupp AG and Bayer AG.

The benchmark DAX Index rose 40.91, or 0.5 percent, to
8089.23 as of 9:06 a.m. in Frankfurt. The HDAX Index of the
country's 110 biggest companies climbed 0.5 percent.


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European Stocks Advance, Led by BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Boliden

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks advanced for a second
day, led by mining companies after a strike in Chile lifted
copper prices. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc rose.

``For copper, a fair amount of the recent price premium has
come through because of the strikes,'' said Stephen Pope, head of
equity research at Cantor Fitzgerald in London. ``The mining
story is good. We're seeing very strong economic numbers and
that's underpinning'' the shares.


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European stocks rise in early trade, Univar surges

(Reuters) - At 0711 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.37 percent at 1,625.65 points.




"Positive U.S. jobs data on Friday put us in a good mood, but there were concerns about oil, which puts pressure on underlying commodity costs," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at 7 Investment Management.


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Roche signs up to $1 bln deal with Alnylam on RNAi

(Reuters) - Roche will pay Alnylam $331 million upfront in cash and equity investment, including a stake of 1.975 million Alnylam shares at $21.50 each, or just under 5 percent of Alnylam's outstanding common stock, the two firms said on Monday.




For that investment, Roche gets a non-exclusive license to Alnylam's technology platform. The alliance will initially focus on oncology, respiratory diseases, metabolic diseases and certain liver diseases.


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