beyondbrics

* Baidu aims to corral apps users

* India revises its GDP from April to June data to 3.8%

* RIM faces battle over content in Indonesia

* Rosatom launches global charm offensive

* Petrobras to pay Brazil $42.5bn in stock for oil reserves * India seeks access to Skype and Google data

* China digs for ways to stymie BHP’s Potash Corp bid

* Emerging market dollar-issues soar

* Mahindra plans big-bang IT consolidation

* Markets, positive

Baidu aims to corral apps users
Baidu, China’s largest online search company, is to unveil a new feature on Thursday that it hopes will keep web surfers on its site longer, the FT reports. Third-party offerings in the company’s new searchable applications library will launch directly on Baidu rather than on another web site, providing a potential revenue boost for the company.

India revises its GDP from April to June data to 3.8%
India is known for its export of talented economists, software engineers, physicists, and others with a bent for numbers. Yet India’s government still struggles to produce reliable, credible data on just about anything it tries to quantify. Yesterday’s latest buoyant GDP data looked puzzling; now the Indian government admits it made a mistake, beyondbrics reports.The headline figure – which came out on Tuesday – recorded that the economy grew a blistering 8.8 per cent from April to June, its fastest pace in two-and-a-half years.

RIM faces battle over content in Indonesia
Indonesia’s technology minister has taken his battle against pornography to the maker of BlackBerry smart phones, ordering the Canadian company to block digital content in one of its key Asian markets, the FT reports. It is the latest challenge in Asia for Research in Motion, which has come under intense pressure in India in recent weeks to give authorities access to data considered vital to police inquiries.

Rosatom launches global charm offensive
Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic power corporation, has launched an international charm offensive as the country’s most secretive and controversial industry attempts to come in from the cold, the FT reports. In a rare meeting with foreign media last week, Sergei Kiriyenko, a former Russian prime minister and now president of Rosatom, outlined plans for the company to become a leading international player as nuclear power enjoys a surge in demand.

Petrobras to pay Brazil $42.5bn in stock for oil reserves
Petroleo Brasileiro, Latin America’s largest company by market value, agreed to pay the Brazilian government $42.5bn in new stock for the right to develop 5bn barrels of offshore oil reserves, Bloomberg reports. Petrobras, will pay an average of $8.51 a barrel for the oil after almost two weeks of negotiations with the government, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.

India seeks access to Skype and Google data
India is extending a crackdown on BlackBerry to other e-mail and internet communications providers, including Skype and Google, a senior government official said on Wednesday. G.K. Pillai, home secretary, said the government was sending notices to the two internet companies asking them to set up servers in India so that Indian intelligence agencies can monitor e-mail and chat conversations on their systems, the FT reports.

China digs for ways to stymie BHP’s Potash Corp bid
China is stepping up attempts to hamper BHP Billiton’s $39bn hostile offer for Potash Corp, amid worries about future supplies of fertilizer it needs to rapidly boost food production, Reuters reports. China’s state-run Sinochem has hired HSBC to advise it on its options regarding Potash Corp, the world’s largest fertilizer maker.

Emerging market dollar-issues soar
Companies and governments in emerging markets can borrow more cheaply in the dollar than in their own currencies for the first time in two years – in a further boost to buoyant dollar-denominated bond markets, the FT reports. Issuance of emerging market dollar-denominated bonds has surged to record levels this year as the cost of borrowing in the US currency has fallen.

Mahindra plans big-bang IT consolidation
The tractor-to-aerospace Mahindra Group, with nearly 100 companies in its fold, is consolidating its entire IT infrastructure and applications. The consolidation will help the newly-formed group executive board  in faster decision making since it will have access to information across all the group’s businesses. Moreover, the move may result in major monetary benefits, the Economic Times reports.

Markets

Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index up +0.49% at 994.63

Europe
FTSE up -0.20% at 5,356
RTS up +2.03% at 1,450
Wig Index up +0.44% at 42,655
FTSE 300 Eurotop down -0.36% at 1,052

Americas
DJIA up +2.54% at 10,269
S&P 500 up +2.95% at 1,080
Bovespa up +2.96% at 67,073

Asia
Nikkei 225 up +1.52% at 9,063
Topix up +0.99% at 819.42
Hang Seng up +1.19% at 20,869
Shanghai Composite up +1.25% at 2,656
MSCI Asia ex-Japan up +0.80% at 489.46
S&P CNX Nifty Index up +0.26% at 5,486

Currencies
€/$ 1.28 (1.28)
$/¥ 84.29 (84.42)

Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.73 at 75.62
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.18 at 73.73
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up +1.20 at 1,248