•Global crude futures firmed in early European trading Monday, following further co-ordinated central bank actions to stabilize the global banking system, after last week's plunge in equities and commodities, sources said.

•Global equities were boosted following the British government's plan to invest up to GBP37 billion ($64 billion) in ailing British banks Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB. The UK FTSE 100, the German DAX 30 and French CAC 40 indexes rallied 4.82%, 5.83% and 6.05%.

•Meanwhile, the prospect of OPEC production cuts has been gathering pace. Qatari oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah was quoted Monday as saying that OPEC needed to cut its production as a result of falling demand for crude due to the global financial crisis as OPEC sources said the group would have to cut supply by at least 1 million b/d at its November 18 meeting, the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper reported.

Updated: October 13, 2008