stock exchange

Being "under constant attack" supposedly from hackers Nasdaq plans to increase its expenses on cyber security.

"As we sit here, there are people trying to slam into our system every day," Robert Greifeld, chief executive officer of Nasdaq OMX Group, said in an interview on Wednesday. "So we have to be ever-vigilant against an ever-changing foe."

As NYSE Euronext plans merger with Deutsche Boerse AG it rejected less attractive offering of Nasdaq OMX Group and IntercontinentalExchange. Meantime, the two exchanges reaffirmed that their cash and stock offer is superior to the offer submitted by rival Deutsche Boerse AG.

"The feedback we have received from NYSE Euronext stockholders is very positive, and we would expect NYSE Euronext would, at the very least, meet with us and our advisors to discuss the merits of the proposed combination," Robert Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq, said in the statement.

Wall Street was struck with another blow as last week Nasdaq OMX Group reported that it had found "suspicious files" on its U.S. computer servers which may mean they had been hacked. That was the latest damaging factor that even more deteriorated investors’ confidence that has been on a low level since last year’s “flash crash”.

The group said that there was no evidence hackers had accessed or acquired customer information or that its trading platforms were compromised.

During early European deals the euro at last recovered its losses in Asian session as most European stock showed good performance. Most European stocks are trading higher as investor sentiment was boosted after a report showed that private sector services activity in U.K. unexpectedly rose in September and on hopes that the central banks will continue to take action to help a fragile recovery.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange as their shares fell too below the minimum requirement of the exchange.

Freddie Mac's common stock, now unlisted, will trade under the symbol "FMCC." Investors will be able to trade Freddie Mac's 20 classes of preferred stock.

Fannie Mae's common stock will trade under the symbol "FNMA." Its preferred shares also will be listed.

International Banking & Financial Services Technology Exhibition (IBEX 2010) will be conducted from November 9th through 11th at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE. The exhibition is aimed to provide opportunity to introduce products and offers by the financial and banking sector, financial services and brokerage sectors in addition to up‐to‐date service techniques in the field of modern technology.

The largest Indian lender State Bank of India is partnering with US based Elavon and Visa in a move to form a merchant acquiring venture. Last year the bank issued an RFP fpr venture partners and was granted an approval on the part of the central bank for establishing a merchant acquiring subsidiary.

The statement filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange says that the joint venture plans to roll out as many as 600,000 point of sale terminals to merchant locations over the new five years.

The terms of the deal have not been unveiled.