Asia-Pacific

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 ...

    INDIA       Hold-up: Aging roads are hindering Indias growth. Twenty leading global and Indian infrastructure construction companies are bidding for the contract to build a $10 billion eight-lane expressway in the northern Indian state of Uttar ...

NEWS       China Nepstar Chain Drugstore, already the largest drugstore in China based on the number of directly operated outlets, plans to vastly increase its size with the proceeds of its initial public offering of American depositary receipts ...

GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS     PetroChina, China’s largest oil and gas producer, added fuel to the fire of Shanghai’s overheated stock market last month with its initial public offering on the mainland. The company’s A-shares surged 163% in their $8.9 billion ...

INDIA       I ndia hopes to boost hydropower capacity Third-quarter earnings releases by UK telecom giant Vodafone Group and by Switzerland-based Holcim, the world’s second-largest cement maker, reflected growing contributions from India’s increasingly assertive domestic market on the ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COUNTRY GARDEN HOLDINGS/CHINA         Shares of Country Garden Holdings, a leading China-based real estate group, rose 37% in their debut in April on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. More recently, the company postponed a ...

CHINA     PetroChina’s stock soared in initial trading on the Shanghai stock exchange China’s state-owned energy giant PetroChina Co. in early November surpassed ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable company. Shares of PetroChina rose from 16.7 yuan to ...