In Short

A round-up of today's otehr business news in brief ...

Gold continues rally to reach $1,000 an ounce

Gold topped $1,000 an ounce yesterday in New York for the first time in almost a year as investors, hurt by a deepening recession, sought to protect their wealth.

Gold futures for April delivery jumped as much as $31.20, or 3.2 per cent, to $1,007.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division.

Gold, the only metal to advance in 2008, has rallied every year since 2000 and was up 10 per cent in 2009 before yesterday. – (Bloomberg)

No signs of Madoff securities trade

No evidence has been found that securities were purchased for customer accounts at Bernard Madoff’s operation in an investigation going back roughly 13 years into the purported $50 billion fraud, a court-appointed trustee said yesterday.

Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s brokerage, spoke at a meeting at US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Last month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also said its examinations had shown no evidence of trading by Madoffs investment fund. That means Madoff either placed trades through other brokerages or he was not executing trades at all. – (Reuters)

Dublin wind firm expands in Chile

Mainstream Renewable Power, the wind-energy developer founded by Eddie O’Connor, expects to expand in Chile as the South American country seeks to get more energy from renewable sources.

The Dublin-based company plans to add to the 400mw already announced there, according to chief financial officer Fintan Whelan.

Mainstream set up a venture last year with Chile’s Andes Energy in which it said it may invest $1 billion. The country seeks to stem a rise in greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid possible trade restrictions for contributing to global warming.

Mr Whelan set up Mainstream with Airtricity founder Eddie O’Connor.

AIB gets orders to meet 4.3 judgment

Allied Irish Bank has secured court orders for possession of three properties in Waterford to meet a €4.3 million judgment secured by the bank last June.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday granted the possession orders against Thomas Farrell, Monovoy, Tramore, Co Waterford, arising from mortgage loans granted in August 2006 in total amounts of €3.975 million. The mortgages related to 17 acres in Co Waterford and premises at The Quay, Waterford city, and at Waterford Business park.

The bank claimed Mr Farrell mortgaged his interest in all three properties as security for the loans advanced.

UK repossessions up by more than 50%

The number of people in the UK who lost their homes soared by more than 50 per cent in 2008 to hit a 12-year high.

A total of 40,000 properties were repossessed by lenders during the year, up from 25,900 in 2007, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said. The council predicts 75,000 people will lose their homes in 2009. – (PA)

Order against exhibiting papers

Ulster Bank has secured an interim court order restraining a property developer from exhibiting the contents of three “sensitive and confidential” bank documents in court proceedings listed for Monday.

It had been indicated to the bank that Mr Kelly intended to exhibit the documents in relation to court proceedings brought by the bank on Monday, he said.

Jim Phillips, for the bank, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly that the documents – which include memos – refer to named persons, including a person who is subject of a Garda criminal investigation and also contain the bank’s observations on a number of persons.

The documents also referred to named bank officials, Mr Phillips said.