Frankfurt - German bank Commerzbank affirmed Thursday its plans to take over Dresdner Bank, rejecting speculation that earlier hit the Commerzbank share price.
Insurance group Allianz, the current owner of Dresdner, also said the deal was still intact.
"There has been no change to the plan," an Allianz spokeswoman told the dpa-AFX financial news wire in Germany. A Commerzbank spokesman said the merger would proceed "as planned."
Allianz stock was trading at 92.35 euros, down 2.4 per cent, just after noon on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Commerzbank bounced back from the morning speculation, trading at 14.17 euros, up 5.1 per cent.
Sydney - The era of cheap debt that powered Macquarie Bank Ltd to becoming Australia's most admired and most profitable financial institution is over.
Tokyo - Tokyo stocks bounced back in morning trading Friday as the Wall Street surged overnight on news about the US government's plan to create an entity to dispose of bad loans.
Sydney - Austral
New York - US stocks posted significant gains on Thursday, the latest swing in a topsy-turvy week on Wall Street amid a burgeoning financial crisis and massive government interventions aimed at preventing wider economic fallout.
Mumbai/New Delhi, Sept 18 : The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex rebounded from sharp early losses on Thursday and snapped a seven-day losing streak, as domestic funds stepped in to pick bargains with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram ruling out negative impact of Lehman bankruptcy but the outlook remained shaky on deepening global financial woes. 
