SERBIA:

NBS: Serbia's c-bank holds key repo rate at 3.0%
Serbia's central bank said on Thursday it decided to keep its key repo rate unchanged at 3.0%. In making such a decision, the executive board was primarily guided by the expected inflation movement and its underlying factors, as well as the effects of past monetary policy easing,the central bank, NBS, said in a statement. Inflation in Serbia is expected to remain below the middle of the 1.5%-4.5% target band over the next two years, NBS noted.
Source: SeeNews

New minimum wage to be announced on September 10
The proposition to increase minimum wage in Serbia is still being worked on and the decision will most likely be announced on September 10, 2018 after the Social-Economic Council session, the President of The Serbian Association of Employers Srdjan Drobnjakovic said. Current minimum wage is at RSD 24,882 or RSD 143 per hour and minimum monthly wage is RSD 24,800. 350,000 workers in Serbia earn this wage, our of who 30,000 are public servants.
Source: SeeNews

RTB Bor investment will go to budget indirectly
Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic has refuted the claims that RTB Bor tender was “staged” and that the Government budget won't see any income from the Zijin investment. She added that USD 200 million of debt from the pre-packaged sale are paid off. One part from that amount would go indirectly to the government budget through the investment into companies RTB Bor is indebted to, such as EPS and others.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

Poboljšana profitabilnost Mercatora u prvom polugodištu
Grupa Mercator u prvom je polugodištu ove godine više nego udvostručila dobit iz poslovanja, na 16,9 miliona evra, uz rast maloprodajnih prihoda od 6,6 posto i normalizovani EBITDA od 48,1 miliona evra ili 14,6 posto više nego lani, izvestio je u četvrtak taj slovenački maloprodajni lanac. Neto dobit Grupe Mercator, koja je deo Agrokora, u prvom je polugodištu iznosila 1,5 miliona evra, dok je u istom razdoblju lani grupa poslovala s gubitkom od 4,6 miliona evra.
Source: Seebiz

INO:

Nasdaq falls for a third day as Amazon, Apple and chip stocks get hit, Nasdaq and S&P 500 fall as Netflix leads steep tech sell-off, European stocks close lower amid trade concerns, emerging market turbulence
Stocks mostly fell on Thursday as tech shares added to steep losses seen in the previous session while global trade fears lingered. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.9 percent as Amazon and Apple fell 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. The index is on track to fall 2.5 percent for the week and has posted three straight days of losses.
The S&P 500 declined 0.4 percent as tech fell 1 percent. Facebook shares also declined 2.8 percent on Thursday, while Alphabet dropped 1.3 percent.The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a slight gain, however, rising 20 points.
Chipmakers were among the worst-performing tech stocks. Micron Technology dropped 10 percent, while Lam Research and Applied Materials fell 6.7 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. These stocks fell after a Morgan Stanley analyst and an executive at KLA-Tencor issued demand warnings for the semiconductor space.
Stocks in Europe closed lower Thursday on the back of ongoing concerns over potential new U.S. tariffs on China and a sell-off in emerging markets. The pan-European Stoxx 600 extended losses to hit a session low, closing provisionally down 0.59 percent. Basic resources stocks led Europe lower, down 1.75 percent, as traders continued to worry over the possibility of a trade war between two of the world's largest economies. Mining firm BHP Billiton and copper producer Aurubis were the worst sectoral performers, both down around 5 percent.
Looking at individual stocks, British engineering firm Weir Group was the worst performer in Europe, tumbling 8.6 percent after reporting a weakening in demand for original equipment. French aircraft engine manufacturer Safran led the gains, up by 6.37 percent after reporting solid first-half earnings.
Source: CNBC