Asia-Pacific

THE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON   Often uneasy neighbors and fierce competitors, India and China are finding ways to cooperate as their influence on the global economy grows.     India's prime minister Manmohan Singh and China's premier Wen Jiao ...

INDIA     Indian automobile manufacturers are scaling up production, unfazed by rising inflation. The Indian commerce ministry has announced that it has set India’s export target at $200 billion for 2008-2009. This export target is a part of India’s ...

China         Chinese students prepare for this summer's Olympics in Beijing.   China will more strictly examine applications from listed companies to issue new shares on domestic capital markets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced after the ...

Company To Watch: Ioi/malaysia         Palm oil prices have almost doubled in the past year on rising demand from China and India and increased use of crude palm oil as an alternative energy source. Kuala Lumpur-based IOI, ...

India         ICICI Bank: One of the Indian banks repurchasing bonds.   Indian banks and corporate bond issuers in international markets are taking advantage of the widening credit spreads and tightening liquidity conditions in global bond markets ...

INDIA     Piling in: Investors gave an enthusiastic response to Reliance Power's $3 billion IPO. In its bid to keep up the growth momentum in the Indian economy, the Indian coalition government lifted investment restrictions on foreign investors in ...

BRAZIL     Rock solid: Vale is thought to be ready to bid for Xstrata. Brazilian mining giant Vale (formerly CVRD) is in talks to acquire Swiss mining company Xstrata, reportedly for $90 billion. The deal would be the single ...

CHINA     Riding high: China's economic growth continues to break records. China’s economy grew 11.4% in 2007, its fastest rate in 13 years. Fourth-quarter GDP growth fell to 11.2% year-on-year, however, as government tightening measures and weakening global demand ...

DR NEWS ReneSola, a China-based manufacturer of solar wafers, listed 10 million American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange on January 29. Although the issue was priced at a discount of 9.7% to the underlying shares, which trade ...

NEWS PowerShares Capital Management last month announced the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to provide direct exposure to a diversified portfolio of Indian securities. The PowerShares India Portfolio, with symbol PIN, was set to begin trading in late February on NYSE ...

Dr News       Beijing-based Baidu.com, China’s leading Internet search provider, was the most actively traded depositary receipt in the world last year, according to The Bank of New York Mellon’s annual year-end report on the DR industry. In ...

China       Morgan Stanley: Subprime losses have been plugged by China Investment Corp.       China will allow foreign brokerage firms to play stronger roles in the country’s securities markets, according to new guidelines that took effect ...

China     Filling up: China’s consumers may face shortages soon. While the Chinese horoscope attributes such auspicious qualities as intelligence, charisma and compassion to those born in the Year of the Rat, which begins on February 7, economists are ...

  China International and domestic banks are spreading the net ever wider in their efforts to bring financial services to China’s increasingly wealthy population.     China has outdone itself. The country’s economy grew by 11.5% in the first three ...

India       Tata Motors' new Nano: Launch triggered a sell-off in India's auto sector.       Tata Motors, one of India’s largest domestic truck and passenger car makers, unveiled a car for India’s domestic market priced at ...

Company To Watch: Tata Motors/india Mumbai-based Tata Motors, which is trying to buy Ford Motor’s premier Jaguar and Land Rover brands, unveiled the world’s cheapest car, the $2,500 Nano, at the Auto Expo in New Delhi in January. Dubbed the ...

CHINA       Hong Kong: Focus of tension with the US. China stoked military tension with the United States by denying entry to a number of US naval vessels looking to dock in Hong Kong. In the most publicized ...

  CHINA       Filling up: China’s consumers may face shortages soon. While the Chinese horoscope attributes such auspicious qualities as intelligence, charisma and compassion to those born in the Year of the Rat, which begins on February 7, ...

  Asia’s most dynamic economies are amassing huge cash fortunes that they can then wield to increase their power around the world. Will 2008 be the year when we t ruly see the balance of global power shift to the ...

HEALTHCARE CHARITY Global Finance charity partner Amrit Davaa spent two weeks in India providing healthcare to children at a remote orphanage and to locals. Editor Dan Keeler accompanied the medical team on its mission.     Dr Becki Giusti checks ...