Recon Technology To Acquire Beijing Originwater Purification Engineering – Quick Facts

Recon Technology, Ltd. (RCON), a Chinese non-state-owned oil and gas field service company, announced Tuesday that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Beijing Originwater Purification Engineering Technology Co. Ltd, a PRC private company focusing on water purification industry in China.

Pursuant to the MOU, Recon will explore the purchase of up to 100% of the equity interest or assets of Originwater Purification Engineering from the current shareholders at a price to be agreed upon by the Parties.

The purchase price will be based on the assessed value of Originwater Purification Engineering as determined by an independent third-party evaluation firm and will be paid in cash and the Company’s restricted ordinary shares.

The terms and conditions of a definitive agreement are currently being negotiated between the two parties. Further details will be disclosed upon completion of the definitive agreement.

As the Chief Technology Officer and director Guangqiang Chen is a significant shareholder of Originwater, the Board of Directors of the Company has established a special committee consisting solely of independent, disinterested directors to evaluate the MOU and transaction.

Gold falls ₹ 57, silver prices tumble ₹ 477

Gold prices fell by ₹ 57 to ₹ 48,931 per 10 gram in the national capital on Tuesday due to weakness in global prices and rupee appreciation, according to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, the yellow metal had closed at ₹ 48,988 per 10 gram.

Silver also declined by ₹ 477 to ₹ 49,548 per kg from ₹ 50,025 per kg on Monday.

“Spot gold prices for 24 carat in Delhi were trading down by ₹ 57 with weak international gold prices and rupee appreciation,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.

The rupee on Tuesday appreciated 37 paise to provisionally close at 75.66 against the US dollar, following a rally in domestic equity market and persistent foreign fund inflows.

In the international market, gold traded marginally higher at USD 1,755 per ounce, while silver quoted at USD 17.82 per ounce.

EU to focus on rebuilding after COVID in next 18 months – Germany

BERLIN, June 23 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with her counterparts in Portugal and Slovenia that the EU should focus on rebuilding the bloc economically and socially after the corona crisis in the next 18 months when the three assume the rotating presidency.

“The trio’s joint programme focuses on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic and social rebuilding of Europe. The aim is to strengthen the EU’s resilience to pandemic crises in the long term,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement after the three held a video conference.

Indonesia children at risk as COVID-19 disrupts vaccination drive

Health experts warn efforts to contain pandemic could lead to an increase in preventable but fatal childhood diseases.

More than 80 percent of inoculation programmes in Indonesia have been disrupted by COVID-19, and the government says it is trying to get them back on track, with the health ministry advising provinces on how to continue vaccinating, safely.

But even a brief pause in these essential programmes could put millions of children’s lives at risk.

Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington reports from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Brazil cenbank minutes show little scope for further rate cuts

BRASILIA, June 23 (Reuters) – Brazil’s central bank has little room to cut interest rates below the current record low of 2.25%, a level “close” to the point from which further reductions could fuel financial market instability, according to meeting minutes released on Tuesday.

The minutes of the June 16-17 meeting of the rate-setting committee, known as Copom, also showed that policymakers believe the worst of the economic downturn was in April, but that the recovery in May and June was shallow.

U.S. Business Inventories Slump More Than Expected In April

A report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. business inventories in the month of April.

The Commerce Department said business inventories tumbled by 1.3 percent in April after falling by a revised 0.3 percent in March.

Economists had expected business inventories to decrease by 0.8 percent compared to the 0.2 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected decrease reflected a sharp pullback in retail inventories, which plunged by 3.7 percent in April after jumping by 1.1 percent in March.

Manufacturing inventories also fell by 0.4 percent in April after slumping by 1.1 percent in March, while wholesale inventories rose by 0.3 percent after tumbling by 1.1 percent.

The report also showed business sales plummeted by 14.4 percent in April following a 5.2 percent nosedive in the previous month.

Wholesale sales plunged by 16.9 percent, while manufacturing and retail sales cratered by 13.5 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively.

With sales falling by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio spiked to 1.67 in April from 1.45 in March.

Stock Alert: Mersana At New High

Shares of Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (MRSN) are rising more than 7% Tuesday morning and hit a new high of $24.04. The stock is continuing with yesterday’s momentum.

The stock had risen 8% Monday after the company said it presented preclinical data from its dolasynthen and immunosynthen ADC platforms at American Association for Cancer Research 2020 Virtual annual meeting.

Preclinical data on XMT-1592, a NaPi2b-targeted site-specific and homogeneous Dolasynthen ADC, demonstrated excellent activity, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics, the company said.

Mersana Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting cancers in areas of high unmet medical need

The company also provided progress on its Immunosynthen STING-agonist ADC platform that preclinical data on multiple Immunosynthen STING-agonist ADCs show complete tumor regressions after a single dose, excellent tolerability and immune memory.