Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble may fall when Russia’s financial markets open on Jan. 11 after a seven-day holiday as companies and banks demand foreign currency to repay more than $80 billion of debt this year, according to Societe Generale SA.

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Shoprite Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s largest grocery chain by market value, will report holiday sales next week that were “better than forecast,” Marketing Director Brian Weyers said.

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble may fall when Russia’s financial markets open this weekend after a seven-day holiday as companies and banks demand foreign currency to repay more than $80 billion of debt this year, according to Societe Generale SA.

In what was a dismal holiday season for many store chains, video game retailer GameStop Corp. proved an exception.

UNIT prices on the Gold and Sunshine coasts have slumped as investors seek to offload their holiday homes in tough economic times.

US retailers revealed Thursday the extent of dismal sales in the crucial year-end holiday shopping season, when wary consumers snapped their wallets shut in the face of a deepening recession.

Some hefted their luggage on bamboo shoulder poles. Others carried their things in plastic buckets. All were migrant workers hurrying to get home Thursday before China's Lunar New Year festival — a holiday that triggers one of the world's biggest annual migrations of humans.

The nation?s retail chains confirmed Thursday that they suffered one of the worst holiday shopping seasons in decades.