Other finance news in brief
Number of broadband subscribers now over one million, says ComReg
The number of broadband subscribers in Ireland surpassed one million this summer, according to figures released by the communications regulator yesterday.
Including mobile broadband users, the total number of subscribers at the end of June was 1,054,920 according to ComReg, a 6.4 per cent rise from the previous quarter.
This equates to 24.3 per cent population penetration.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) does not include mobile users in its ranking of nations' broadband penetration. Stripping out the 222,330 mobile subscribers, penetration is running at 19.2 per cent. The average across all 30 OECD nations was 20 per cent at the end of 2007.
Industrial production down 0.8% for July
Industrial production fell 0.8 per cent in July compared to June, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday.
This was the second straight month that industrial production has slipped following a 5.8 per cent reduction in June, compared to May.
On an annual basis production by the manufacturing sector was 4.5 per cent lower in July compared to the same month in 2007.
Irish-owned manufacturers fared worse than foreign-owned firms based here with production by indigenous firms down 6.2 per cent compared to a year ago.
Bank of Ireland cuts fixed-rate mortgages
Bank of Ireland has reduced its fixed-rate mortgage rates again, introducing 11 new products into the mortgage market.
The bank has cut its two-year fixed rate by 0.54 of a percentage point to 5.2 per cent, bringing it in line with the same rate offered by its rival AIB. It has cut its three-year rate by 0.29 of a percentage point to 5.65 per cent and its five-year rate by 0.34 of a percentage point, also to 5.65 per cent.
The bank has also introduced variable loan-to-value base rates ranging from 5.4 per cent to 5.65 per cent, depending on the size of the mortgage as a proportion of the value of the property.
Washington critical of Opec supply reduction
Opec's decision to reduce supplies risks keeping oil prices at very high levels, cutting short a fall from July's record price, the International Energy Agency warned yesterday.
Washington also criticised the oil cartel's move, which came less than 60 days before US elections in which voters are citing high energy prices as one of their top concerns.
"We'd like to see more oil on the market, not less," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
The cartel's surprise announcement that it would cut its supply by 520,000 barrels a day to abide by official production levels boosted oil prices in early trading to more than $100 a barrel. But prices later fell after a sharp rise in the dollar. In mid-day trading, US crude oil lost $1.30 to reach $101.96 a barrel. - (Financial Times service)
