News

* New Zealand closes at its highest in 3-weeks (Updates to close)

Societe Generale, France's second largest listed bank, said its third quarter net profit jumped 32 percent thanks to a capital gain booked on its stake in clearing house Euroclear.

Burundi plans to establish a securities exchange before the end of this year for companies to raise funds after a slowdown in commercial bank lending, a senior central bank official said.

* Shares hit two-year low, steepest daily drop since 1987 crash (Recasts adding shares and analyst quotes)

* Kasikornbank aims to use GrabPay data to formulate loans (Adds executive comments, Kasikornbank plans, Grab funding)

* SoftBank, Alibaba invest more than $3 bln altogether - sources

China stocks posted modest gains on Thursday morning, rebounding from three days of losses, as new data showed surprisingly strong exports and imports in October. ** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 16.08 points or 0.61 percent at 2,657.42. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.68...

South Korea's lawyers lobbied the government on Thursday to quickly establish a legal framework to help develop the blockchain-based virtual currency industry and protect investors.

Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, as Wall Street rallied after U.S. midterm elections, boosting Asian equities, while the Philippines deepened its slump after data showed that economic growth slowed in the third quarter. Wall Street's main indexes rose more t

Japanese government bond prices dipped on Thursday as the benchmark Nikkei share average hit highest in more than two weeks on improved risk appetite, and weighed on the safe-haven appeal of debt.