-- Saudi Arabia's employee compensation index climbed 9.8% on an annual basis in February, compared with a 9.4% rise in the previous month.
The monthly growth stood at 0.7%, according to preliminary data from the General Authority for Statistics released Monday.
Standard Chartered (HKG:2888) bought back 831,000 shares on April 17 at an average price of 18.06 pounds sterling apiece, according to a Monday Hong Kong bourse filing.The British lender plans to cancel the shares, following which it will have about 2.22 billion shares in issue.
China Northern Rare Earth (SHA:600111) plans to renew its financial services agreement with Baogang Group Finance for three more years, according to a Shanghai bourse filing on Saturday.The Chinese rare earth products producer's shares jumped over 3% at the close of Monday's trade.Under the new deal, the daily maximum deposit balance is capped at 6.5 billion yuan.
Prudential (SGX:K6S, HKG:2378) bought back 306,299 shares in London on April 17 at an average price of about 11.06 pounds sterling apiece, according to a Monday Hong Kong bourse filing.The insurer intends to cancel the repurchased shares.Following the transaction, the company will have about 2.52 billion shares in issue.