| Japan 30-year govt bond auction lowest accepted bid 100
TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The lowest accepted bid at today's auction of 600 bln yen-worth of 30-year Japanese government bonds was 100.80 yen, giving a yield of 2.354 pct, the Ministry of Finance said.
Of the bids accepted, 67.9719 pct were made at the lowest price, the ministry said. The average bid was 100.86 yen, making the average yield 2.351 pct.
Designated as the No 26 issue, the bonds will be issued on Friday and will mature on March 20, 2036.
The ministry received 2.3425 trln yen in competitive bids and accepted 549.6 bln yen-worth, giving a bid-to-cover ratio of 4.26 to one. This means the amount of competitive bids received was 4.26 times the amount of bonds offered for sale.
At the previous auction of 30-year debt, on Jan 18, the lowest accepted price was 98.29 yen, giving a yield of 2.380 pct, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.3 to one.
Lara bids farewell to international cricket
Bridgetown, Barbados: West Indies captain Brian Lara announced his retirement from international cricket on Thursday, ending a record-breaking career of one of the sport's greatest ever batsmen. Lara, said his last match for West Indies would be Saturday's World Cup match against England at the Kensington Oval. "I've given this extensive consideration and on Saturday will be bidding farewell to international cricket as a player,"Lara told a news conference after West Indies beat Bangladesh by 99 runs in a Super Eights match on Thursday. "I've already spoken to the board and to my players." The 37-year-old Trinidadian holds the record for the highesttest score (400 not out) and in the first-class game (501 not out). He is also the leading run scorer in tests with 11,953 from 131 matches.
Richardson bids to buy out Agricore in grain war
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Privately held James Richardson International Ltd. offered to buy out Agricore United, Canada's largest grain company, Thursday with a friendly all-cash bid of $19.25 a share. Agricore said the offer matched a bid from No. 2 grain handler Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the latest in Saskpool's five-month quest to control as much as half of Canada's grain industry. But Agricore's board left the door open to a higher bid from Saskpool after rejecting an even higher bid of $20 a share from Richardson that would have locked up shares owned by U.S. agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland, which holds 28% of Agricore. .
Gaming for profit: the story of over 4000 Diablo 2 keys
I read the story on digg: someone accumulated over 4,000 Diablo 2 keys and is now selling them for $5 a throw. That price includes a key for Diablo 2 and Lord of Destruction. $5 is not a bad price for games that regularly still go for more at brick-and-mortar stores. Small sales add up though: if he sells them all he stands to make at least $20,000. I caught up with the man who runs this business endeavor, Frank Lau, and of course I had a few questions. His first e-mail was intriguing. "... it all started when I had a small shop and was spamming Diablo 2 (at the time it really worked, in 2003). I had hundreds and hundreds of keys muted and banned (note: I don't sell those). Then I started mass buying them in hoping to spam and spam and spam... And then I got even more.
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