U.S. worries pressure Asian stocks, dollar

(Reuters) - The negative trend is expected to spread to Europe where financial bookmakers are calling for major markets to open around 1 percent lower.




Heightened concerns for economic growth knocked oil prices, which briefly dipped below $74.50, and dragged Shanghai copper futures down 3 percent, but flight to safety helped gold stay near one-week highs and held the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield near 2-½ month lows.


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PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business - Aug 6

(Reuters) - * Robert Nardelli, recently ousted amid shareholder
discontent as chief executive of Home Depot Inc. , has
been picked to lead Chrysler by its new owners, Cerberus
Capital Management [CBS.UL].




* The complex design of mortgage securities is confounding
homeowners struggling to avoid defaulting on their loans.


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India's Local Bond Rating to Be Kept at Non-Investment Grade, Moody's Says

(Bloomberg) -- India's local currency bonds will
keep a non-investment rating as the government isn't reducing
its budget deficit fast enough, Moody's Investors Service said.

The rating ``remains constrained'' at Ba2, two notches
below investment grade and the same level as Armenia and Jamaica,
as state debt equal to three-quarters of the economy ``leaves
public finances vulnerable,'' Moody's lead sovereign analyst for
India, Aninda Mitra, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Asia-Pacific Corporate Bond Risk Increases on Subprime, Default Swaps Show

(Bloomberg) -- The risk of owning corporate bonds in
the Asia-Pacific region rose on concerns that losses tied to the
U.S. subprime mortgage market will widen.

The cost of default protection, measured by credit-default
swaps, increased in Australia and Japan, approaching the highest
in more than three years. Similar contracts tied to U.S. and
European corporate bonds rose on Aug. 3 after Bear Stearns Cos.,
the manager of two hedge funds that collapsed last month, had
its debt-rating outlook cut to negative by Standard & Poor's.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Continental, Munich Re, Allianz, IKB, DaimlerChrysler: German Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
on German markets. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the
company names and prices are from the Xetra close unless
otherwise stated.

DAX futures expiring in September fell 1.3 percent to 7474.5
in Frankfurt. The DAX retreated 98.46, or 1.3 percent, to 7435.67
on the Xetra electronic-trading system.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Australia, New Zealand Dollars Decline as Carry Trades Cut on Stock Slide

(Bloomberg) -- The Australian and New Zealand
dollars fell a second day against the yen as global stocks slid
on concern U.S. mortgage losses will worsen, deterring investors
from buying higher-yielding assets funded by loans in Japan.

New Zealand's dollar has weakened 7.5 percent versus the
yen in the past month, the most among the 16 most-active
currencies, and Australia's retreated 4.8 percent, as traders
pared positions in so-called carry trades. Asian shares declined
today after The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell the most in
five months in New York on Aug. 3.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Indian Rupee May Gain to 39 This Year as Intervention Will Fail, HSBC Says

(Bloomberg) -- India's rupee may strengthen to 39 by
the end of the year, the strongest since February 1998, because
the central bank will fail in its efforts to stem both currency
gains and inflation, HSBC Holdings Plc said.

The Reserve Bank of India is selling rupees so fast that it
can't mop up the cash injected into the economy, causing
overnight interest rates to fall to near zero, Robert Prior-
Wandesforde, a Singapore-based economist, and Pieter Van Der
Schaft, a Hong Kong-based strategist, wrote in a research note.
That rate is too low for an economy growing at 9 percent a year,
they wrote.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Nissan to launch diesel SUV in Japan in 2008

(Reuters) - The introduction of the diesel X-Trail, due out in the autumn of 2008, could mark the first diesel passenger car launched in Japan by a local brand in years after the powertrain all but disappeared in the 1990s due to its poor image as dirty and loud.




Diesel cars' weakness has been higher exhaust levels of nitrogen oxide and pollutants, but they are slowly gaining traction around the world following their success in Europe since they can get 30 percent better mileage than gasoline engines and emit less carbon dioxide.


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Japan's Shares Drop on U.S. Economy Concern, Stronger Yen; Sony Leads Fall

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks declined, led by Sony
Corp. and Canon Inc., on concern losses in the U.S. mortgage
market may slow the world's biggest economy.

Exporters also fell after the yen strengthened to a four-
month high against the dollar, eroding the value of their dollar-
denominated sales.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea: Asian Local Bond Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following events and economic
reports may influence trading in Asian local-currency bonds
today. Yields are from the previous session.

China: The nation should steadily work toward yuan
convertibility, China Money magazine reported Aug. 3, citing
Wang Yungui, deputy director general of the Balance of Payment
Department at the currency regulator. China should improve the
system of foreign-exchange settlements and increase the currency
market's demand and supply, Wang said according the magazine.
China Development Bank plans to sell 20 billion yuan ($2.64
billion) of fixed-rate seven-year bonds this week.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Philippine Inflation Probably Stayed Close to Seven-Year Low on Currency

(Bloomberg) -- Philippine inflation probably rose in
July. Still, the pace was close to the slowest in 7 1/2 years as
gains in the peso against the dollar lowered the price of
imports, including oil.

Consumer prices increased 2.4 percent from a year earlier,
according to the median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by
Bloomberg News. Inflation was 2.3 percent in June after rising
in the previous two months from 2.2 percent, the lowest level
since January 2000. The National Statistics Office report is due
tomorrow at 9 a.m. in Manila.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

UPDATE 1-Bear Stearns says president Spector has resigned

(Reuters) - The resignation follows Bear Stearns' assertion on Friday
that it is weathering the worst storm in financial markets in
more than 20 years after a major rating company warned mortgage
credit problems could hurt the investment bank's profits.




In a statement, Bear Stearns said that, effective
immediately, Alan Schwartz has been named the company's sole
president, and Samuel Molinaro will become chief operating
officer in addition to chief financial officer.


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UPDATE 1-IKB owner plays down talk of higher subprime losses

(Reuters) - Responding to an article claiming that the losses could
mount to 5 billion euros, government-owned lender KfW told
Reuters on Sunday that such estimates were guess-work.




"Talk of bigger numbers is complete speculation," said a
spokesman for the bank, which owns 38 percent of IKB.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Jones says Fast Retailing tops Dubai bid for Barneys

(Reuters) - Jones Apparel said in a statement released in New York that
it intended to accept the Fast Retailing offer unless Istithmar
matched it within two business days of Aug. 6.




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Sudan, China to build $630 mln Mauritania railway

(Reuters) - Sudan's Danfodio Holding and China's Transtech Engineering have signed an agreement to build a 460 million euro railway linking Mauritania's capital Nouakchott with southern phosphate deposits at Bofal.

The deal for the 430 km (290 mile) line, which will run close to the Islamic Republic's southern frontier with Senegal, was signed late on Friday in Nouakchott with private Mauritanian investors and Transport Minister Ahmed Ould Mohameden.


Read more at Reuters Africa