| Aussie dollar hovers below month high; eyes data
SYDNEY, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The Australia dollar was firm above 79 cents on Monday and near a one month high against a U.S. currency that was broadly weaker on concerns over tensions with Iran and the U.S. subprime mortgage market. The Aussie rose to $0.7924 in offshore trade on Friday as investors continued to chase higher-yielding currencies, with buoyant base metal and gold prices providing additional support. "There is also a sense that the U.S. dollar is vulnerable to rising tensions with Iran, considering the commitment to Iraq and rising political opposition to the war and tensions between the White House and Democrat-controlled Congress," said Tony Morriss, senior currency strategist at ANZ Investment Bank. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney told the Australian newspaper Iran's atomic ambitions must be curbed and said all options were on the table, while an Iranian deputy foreign minister vowed Tehran was prepared for any eventuality, even war.
Insurance firm posts promising receipts
Insurance specialty company CRM Holdings Ltd., whose workers and owners are mainly in Poughkeepsie, reported a good quarter and year Thursday. The closing stock price for CRM also was up, providing the company, which went public in December 2005, with a jump of 9.25 percent, the first such sizable gain in several months. Shares closed at $8.74, up $0.74. At the initial public offering Dec. 21, 2005, it was $13. CRM focuses on workers' compensation insurance, providing fee-based services to self-insured trusts, as well as traditional forms of the insurance through a newly acquired subsidiary, Majestic Insurance Co. Revenues for the fourth quarter rose to $26.6 million, up 97.7 percent from the same quarter in 2005. Net income, or profit, rose even more - 113 percent - to $4.2 million, and earnings per share increased to $0.26 from $0.18 a year ago.
Draime moves to the top
EUFAULA, Ala. - Jesse Draime of Long Beach, Miss., caught only four bass Friday that weighed 13 pounds, 12 ounces. But with a three-day weight of 44-3, he managed to take a slim lead in the Stren Series bass tournament on Lake Eufaula. Behind Draime are South Carolina angler Todd Auten with 44-2 and local favorite Ryan Ingram of Phenix City, Ala., with 44-0. Ingram is the defending champion of the event and was considered one of the favorites coming into the tournament. He caught five fish that weighed 12-1 -- his smallest catch of the event so far. He said his bite suffered due to a lack of water generation. "I'm getting five bites each day," he said. "Yesterday, they were five decent ones. Today, they were five little ones. They're biting on the banks, and that's a death sentence." Ingram said he is simply not a bank-fisherman on Lake Eufaula -- he's an offshore angler.
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