Stockholm - Main Swedish banking groups Nordea, Swedbank and SEB on Thursday reported third-quarter results suggesting they had weathered the first phases of the financial turmoil.

Shares for all three groups were mid-morning in positive territory on the Stockholm bourse where the OMXS index was flat. The fourth major group Handelsbanken, which reported Wednesday, was also up.

Banking group Swedbank said its third-quarter operating profit was 3.1 billion kronor (395 million dollars), down 15 per cent year-on-year, while total income in the quarter was 8.2 billion kronor or 13 per cent lower than in second-quarter 2008.

Stockholm - Sweden's central bank said Thursday it was to cut its interest rate by 0.50 percentage points to 3.75 per cent, the second cut this month.

The cut was to take effect October 29, the Riksbank said.

The bank's board of governors said "the interest rate cuts are aimed at alleviating the effects of the financial crisis" and added that the inflation target of 2 per cent remained.

Sweden was also experiencing the impact of the global financial crisis, and the economy was slowing down, the Riksbank said, adding that effects included higher loan costs for companies and households.

Stockholm - The Swedish government is set to halt an adoption programme with Vietnam over fears of irregularities, reports said Wednesday.

The pending cabinet decision, due Thursday, is based on evaluations that suggest that biological parents were not always aware their children were put up for adoption and were sometimes offered cash for their children.

Health and Social Affairs Minister Goran Hagglund told Swedish radio news that there were "disturbing signals" that not all adoptions from Vietnam were permissible.

The current agreement with Vietnam is due to expire in the autumn of 2009.

Hagglund said there were no signs that Vietnam was willing to admit to the problems.

Stockholm - Swedish banking group Handelsbanken on Wednesday outdid analyst expectations and reported higher third-quarter operating profits and net interest income.

Handelsbanken was the first of the Nordic nation's four major banking groups to report results amid the ongoing financial turmoil.

Operating profits were up 6 per cent to 3.78 billion kronor (510 million dollars), the group said attributing this to "higher net interest income and lower costs."

Stockholm - Assa Abloy, a locks and security solutions group based in Sweden, said Tuesday it would consider moving a plant out of an industrial zone in an Israeli-occupied portion of the Palestinian West Bank after receiving criticism from Swedish human rights groups.

A group of Swedish human rights organizations earlier Tuesday published a report criticizing the company for operating the plant in the disputed zone in the town of Barkan.

The report, Illegal Ground: Assa Abloy's Business in Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the plant "contravenes both domestic Israeli law and a number of provisions in international law."

Stockholm - The Swedish government Monday unveiled details in a stability plan including to establish a fund to help banks that run into problems in future.

The programme was aimed at "restoring confidence" in the financial system, Finance Minister Anders Borg said at joint news conference with Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell.

The fund was to run along the lines recently approved by Eurozone countries, and Odell said the fast-track legislation could likely be passed early next week.