[R]8:00AM Newspaper publisher McClatchy agreed to sell two papers for $562 million.[/R]
Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. (MNI: chart) agreed to sell the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News to Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, a group of local investors, for $562 million. McClatchy will receive $515 million in cash, and the investment group, Philadelphia Media Holdings, will assume $47 million in pension liabilities.

The transaction is expected to close in summer. At around the same time McClatchy''s $6.5 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. (KRI: chart) is expected to be completed, a deal which will make McClatchy the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher. The sale of the two papers is part of McClatchy''s plan to divest 12 of 32 newspapers it bought from Knight Ridder for about $4.5 billion plus the assumption of $2 billion of debt. Last month, the company agreed to sell the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times to Dean Singleton''s MediaNews Group, and to sell the Monterey Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press to Hearst Corp. The four papers are selling for a total of $1 billion in cash.

The new owners of Philadelphia''s two major daily newspapers will have to solve two major problems- reversing circulation declines and shrinking profits at a time when Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC doesn’t consider cutting jobs. As publicly traded companies, newspaper conglomerates Knight Ridder and McClatchy have to answer to shareholders’ expectations of a better return for their money. The local investors hope to boost business by emphasizing local news and doing more with the Internet. The deal returns the Philadelphia papers to private ownership for the first time since 1969.


[R]7:30AM Japanese benchmark Nikkei rose while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell.[/R]
Asian markets finished mixed. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 308.00 points, or almost 2%, to close at 15907.20. Canon and Toyota Motor were among the gainers. Canon was 2.1% and Toyota Motor closed 3.2% higher. Real-estate also advanced as Sumitomo Realty & Development jumped 2.9%. Refiner shares also gained, with Nippon Oil advancing 2% and Inpex Holdings soaring 6.8%. Hong Kong shares closed lower,as the blue-chip Hang Seng dropped 41.92 points, or 0.3%, to close at 15822.64. China Mobile, the second-largest component of the benchmark was down 1.7%. Taiwan shares closed 0.5% up at 6877.01, with nontechnology stocks leading gains. Cathay Real Estate Development jumped 5.2%, and Goldsun Development & Construction surged by the daily limit of 7%. Australia''''s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finished 23.9 points higher, or 0.5%, at 5037.7 points. The South Korea’s Kospi finished up 0.3%, or 3.52 points, at 1333.38. South Korean Hyundai Engineering & Construction soared 6%. Its creditors announced that they have ended its debt-restructuring program before schedule, and plan to start selling their stakes around July.


[R]6:30AM European bourses off to a lower start on Wednesday.[/R]
European stocks started sharply lower on Wednesday. It was a day of merger and acquisition steps with some deals started to unravel. Deutsche Börse must hold a meeting in the wake of Euronext refusal to its latest offer. The New York’s bid is lower than that of Deutsche Börse but Euronext has its eyes on the bigger board as it seems to present better opportunities. Borsa Italiana will also start talks with Euronext of a possible deal. In other news, OMV soared 8.9% in early trade after the Austrian oil company its merger with Verbund was stopped by the government because of political resistance from the country provinces. ThyssenKrupp, the German engineering conglomerate stated its willingness to buy Japanese elevator company Hitachi, offering almost double of its global market share.

Oil prices lost momentum on Wednesday ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data and an international meeting on Iran''''s nuclear program. Crude oil was trading down 48 cents at $71.28 a barrel and London July Brent crude oil shed 42 cents to $70.58. Gold traded lower in a narrow band on Wednesday, ttracing movements in the dollar and following closely oil prices. Spot gold was quoted at $668.20/669.00 an ounce by 0952 GMT. The dollar gained against the euro.The euro bought $1.2792 in early European trading, down from $1.2861 in New York late Tuesday. The British pound slipped to $1.8778 from $1.8843. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar advanced to 112.28 yen from 111.32 yen.