HOUSTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BP America today announced two plea agreements and a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a consent order with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which end governmental investigation of company wrongdoing on matters related to the March 2005 explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery, the March and August 2006 oil transit line spills in Alaska and improper propane trading in April 2003 and February 2004.

"These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize," said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone.

KCBT hits new total daily trade volume record

Kansas City Board of Trade hard red winter wheat futures established a new single day trading volume record Monday, February 11. This follows the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's decision to expand daily trading limits for wheat futures from $.30 to $.60. The KCBT, Chicago Board of Trade and Minneapolis Grain Exchange initially requested that limits be raised to $.40.

Total volume on Monday was 47,962 contracts, up 20.8% from the old record of 22,407 contracts set August 2, 2006. That includes a new all time top for electronic volume as well; that totaled 22,407 contracts, an increase of 37.9% from the previous top of 16,248 contracts set August 13, 2007.

Volume and interest at the three U.S. wheat exchanges has been up sharply for more than a year due to generally tight supplies and strong demand.

Dow up 90 despite inflation, growth worries

Stocks climbed out of a hole Wednesday, closing higher despite conflicting worries about inflation and economic growth.

Advances by technology stocks, led by an 8 percent rally in the shares of Hewlett-Packard, and energy stocks, reflected in a nearly 2 percent gain by Chevron, helped lead the market higher.

In futures trading, crude oil continued its assault on triple-digit barrel prices. Oil for March delivery rose 73 cents a barrel, to $100.74, its second straight record-high close, after trading as high as $101.32 during the session.

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NCEL launches awareness drive for rice trading

KARACHI: National Commodities Exchange Limited (NCEL) on Monday launched a month-long pre-launch programme and investor awareness drive ahead of the commencement of listing and trading of its IRRI-6 Rice Futures Contract.

Managing Director Assim Jang said NCEL will be in Kandhkot, in upper Sindh, holding the first of investor awareness seminars aimed at informing the potential participants, including growers, millers, traders and exporters of the details of Futures Trading in IRRI-6 rice and encouraging their participation.

We have chosen these areas to start out investor awareness drive as they are the trading hubs of IRRI-6 rice, Assim said adding, we feel it is important to reach out to the key participants in our market on a one-to-one basis, they will not only ultimately benefit from this new contract, but also will provide NCEL with the necessary depth and liquidity, he added.

Hedge funds scent a market turnaround amid turbulence

London: If hedge funds are, as is often claimed, the investment vanguard, their latest moves appear to be telling financial markets it is time to take a break from the trading patterns that have dominated since mid-2007.

Societe Generale, for example, says long positions on 10-year government bonds have been closed. That is to say, hedge funds are not expecting demand for such bonds to increase and drive yields lower. .

Tech merger possibilities buoy stocks; energy heats up

Stocks edged higher Monday, as investors overlooked fresh worries in financial stocks and focused on merger prospects among technology companies.

Energy stocks were big winners, as oil prices moved higher in futures trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 57.88 points, to 12,240.01. International Business Machines and Boeing were the biggest contributors to the gain among the 30 Dow industrials.

Indian share prices close up 0.34pc

STOCK ON THE MOVE: Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd rose 1.05% to Rs 409.60 after its board approved merging the liquor firm with United Spirits Ltd, another company in the UB Group. United will allot four shares for every 17 Shaw Wallace shares

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed up 0.34% on Thursday, trimming gains after regional markets surged on a powerful Wall Street rally overnight, dealers said. They said banking, power and property stocks rose as the market snapped two days of losses. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index closed up 64.39 points or 0.34% at 19,003.26, slipping sharply from the days peak of 19,297.01. Dealers said investors unwound positions at the expiry of the monthly futures trading contract on Thursday. Wall Streets rebound on hopes that the US Federal Reserve would cut rates again boosted Indian shares in early morning trade.