Stocks in central and eastern Europe posted minor gains on Tuesday as most investors bided their time ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s final policy meeting of the year later in the day. Share prices in Turkey, Poland, Russia and Hungary inched up as markets waited for signs of the Fed’s commitment to QE2, its second round of quantitative easing.

The rouble slid against the euro as some Russian companies bought the single currency to help pay off their debts, while analysts said others were putting in place hedges. The Russian currency rose slightly against the dollar. Continue reading »

Chinese stocks finished roughly flat on Tuesday, pausing after Monday’s surge, as the prospect of further tightening measures cooled sentiment. Indices elsewhere in Asia were broadly positive, with South Korea’s Kospi index extending its three-year high.

In India, where year-on-year inflation slowed to 7.48 per cent in November, in line with forecasts, equities rose slightly amid low volume (see chart). “Banking stocks are back to favour again as a sign of recovery,” Deven Choksey, chief executive officer at K.R. Choksey Shares & Securities, told beyondbrics. “The decrease in foreign activity might just be the December phenomenon.” Continue reading »

* China to appeal WTO defeat on US tyre tariffs

* Yahoo to cut jobs in shift to fast-growing markets

* Renminbi starts to go global

* Egypt should export more to Israel: textile producer

* Booming Asia drives Google’s Android Continue reading »