beyondbrics

* India plans tough stress tests of banks

* South Africa sheds jobs, denting economic recovery

* Soros set to buy stake in Bombay exchange

* Consumers, rapid growth help China takes the lead

* Goldman Sachs, CS buy stakes in Bank of Moscow

* China banks resigned to defaults

* Botswana’s gem output may jump 36 per cent as demand recovers

* Reliance to rope in strategic partners for telecom business

* IMF directors split over whether China’s renminbi is undervalued

* World Bank warns on ‘farmland grab’ trend

* ONGC, PetroVietnam to bid in weeks for BP asset

* Markets, mainly positive

India plans tough stress tests of banks
India plans to start conducting twice-yearly stress tests on its banks, following in the footsteps of financial regulators in the US and Europe, the FT reports. The Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday that it had conducted rudimentary stress tests during the global financial crisis to check credit and interest rate risk.

South Africa sheds jobs, denting economic recovery
South Africa’s unemployment rate, the highest of 62 countries tracked by Bloomberg, was little changed in the second quarter as the economy failed to create jobs, undermining the strength of the recovery. The jobless rate increased to 25.3 per cent from 25.2 per cent in the first quarter, Statistics South Africa said. The number of people with work fell by 61,000 to 12.7 million.

Soros set to buy stake in Bombay exchange
George Soros, the billionaire investor, is in final talks to buy Dubai Holding’s 4 per cent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange, as foreign investor interest in India’s fast-growing financial markets rises, the FT reports. Soros Fund Management is planning to pay about $40m for its stake.

Consumers, rapid growth help China takes the lead
China ranks No 1 among 27 emerging economies due to its huge consumer market and rapid economic growth, according to the Emerging Markets Opportunity Index released by US accounting firm Grant Thornton, China Daily reports.

Goldman Sachs, CS buy stakes in Bank of Moscow
Major international banks Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse have bought small stakes in state-run Bank of Moscow, an encouraging sign for Russia as it considers a broader sale of the state’s financial assets, Reuters reports. As part of a $29bnfund-raising effort to plug gaps in the budget, Russia is looking at the sale of minority stakes in major state-owned lenders Sberbank and VTB.

China banks resigned to defaults
In most countries, the revelation that local governments would default on a fifth of their bank loans would be greeted with alarm. In China, however, the news came as a pleasant surprise, the FT reports. “The fact that nearly 80 per cent of those projects have at least some capacity to service their debt is quite amazing,” said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC.

Botswana’s gem output may jump 36 per cent as demand recovers
Botswana, the world’s biggest diamond producer, may produce 24m carats of gems in 2010, 36 per cent more than last year, as demand recovers following a global economic recession, Bloomberg reports. “The market is improving and we will increase output,” said Kgomotso Abi, director of mining at Botswana’s Department of Mines.

Reliance to rope in strategic partners for telecom business
Corporate giant Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it will rope in several strategic partners for its telecom business from among leading global service providers, device manufacturers and technology firms. Hinting that its telecom offering would be low-cost in nature, the company said that it would follow “an asset light strategy” for the business, Economic Times reports.

IMF directors split over whether China’s renminbi is undervalued
International Monetary Fund directors split over whether the renminbi is undervalued, reflecting similar differences between US and Chinese officials over the nation’s exchange-rate regime, Bloomberg reports. Some IMF board members said the assumption that the exchange rate is undervalued is based on “uncertain forecasts” for China’s current account surplus

World Bank warns on ‘farmland grab’ trend
The FT reports investors in farmland are targeting countries with weak laws, buying arable land on the cheap and failing to deliver on promises of jobs and investments, according to the draft of a report by the World Bank. “Investor interest is focused on countries with weak land governance,” the draft said.

ONGC, PetroVietnam to bid in weeks for BP asset
India’s state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and PetroVietnam are expected to submit a joint formal offer within weeks to buy BP’s stake in the Nam Con Son gas project, Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan said. Reuters reports, ONGC has a 45 per cent share in Block 6.1 in the Nam Con Son basin, off Vietnam’s southeast coast, operated by BP, which has a 35 per cent stake.

Markets

Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index up +0.07% at 991.75

Americas
DJIA up +0.12% at 10,538
S&P 500 down -0.10% at 1,114
Bovespa up +0.35% at 66,674

Asia
Nikkei 225 up +1.88% at 9,675
Topix up +2.04% at 863.38
Hang Seng up +0.61% at 21,101
Shanghai Composite up +0.86% at 2,597
MSCI Asia ex-Japan up +0.20% at 487.67
S&P CNX Nifty Index up +0.22% at 5,431

Currencies
€/$ 1.30 (1.30)
$/¥ 87.73 (87.89)

Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.17 at 75.96
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.30 at 77.20
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,158