Most stock markets in emerging Europe fell on Friday, as US jobs data again disappointed. However, Turkish equities extended their all-time record, and the lira set a two-year record high against the dollar, after the prime minister announced a “strategic partnership” with China.

Russia – which has been on the sidelines of ongoing currency disputes – said that the Bric countries had agreed a common position on exchange rates, in an apparent move to oppose the US. Continue reading »

Here’s a video of Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, interviewing Min Zhu, Special Advisor to the Managing Director of the IMF, about currency wars, Chinese banks and emerging markets. Wolf sums up: “The implication of this is go to the East where the opportunities are.”

Chinese stocks were a bright spot within otherwise lacklustre Asian trade on Friday. Shanghai markets returned from a four-day public holiday and moved to catch up with the rest of the region’s indices, which stayed in neutral ahead of closely watched jobs data from the US due later in the day. It is likely to shed light on the need for further stimulus in the world’s biggest economy. Continue reading »

* Nobel peace prize decision an “obscenity”, says China

* India wants bold IMF quota changes – Mukherjee

* Luzhkov calls Medvedev “a failure”

* UAE lifts Blackberry threat

* China to be second-richest country by 2015 Continue reading »

From the FT:

• George Soros on China and the currency wars
• India’s infrastructure is embarrassing, Lex
• How Hero Honda adapted to women riders
• Nigeria’s party cut short by divided politics
• The world’s two-speed growth, Martin Wolf
• Bubble fears surround stocks’ rise

From elsewhere:

• Luzhkov should go to jail, Moscow Times
• Africa’s best-governed states, The Economist
• Was Latin America ready for the crisis? VoxEU
• China & Turkey: military allies, Asia Sentinel
• Our property market is corrupt, China Daily
• Hungary’s toxic sludge, Time