Central and eastern European stocks fell for the first time this week on Friday, as weak employment data from the United States spooked investors. With Russia closed for trading, Turkey and Poland led falls.

“The market is having a little bit of difficulty coming to terms with the data,” said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley & Co. in London. “We saw an increase in payrolls which was below expectations.” Continue reading »

India and Indonesia led further falls for Asian stocks on Friday – capping a poor week for the region’s bourses – amid falling commodity prices and increasing anxiousness about the strength of the US economic recovery.

“Asian equities are certainly not cheap anymore,” said Jamie Coutts of brokerage BGC Partners in Singapore. “What we need is stellar economic numbers from the US to push stocks higher. That should help counter ongoing concerns about monetary tightening in China and Europe’s sovereign debt problems.” Continue reading »

From the FT:

• Hungary’s critics are too quick to judge, says Viktor Orban
• Leader: Budapest’s new media law is a step backwards
• It is time for India to rein in its robber barons, Jayant Sinha and Ashutosh Varshney
• Lex on China’s fiscal policy
• China’s monetary tightening to be felt across globe, Henny Sender

From elsewhere:

• Rethinking the Brics, Business Insider
• Russia: a new democratic agenda necessary, Mikhail Gorbachev
• Chart: Africa’s impressive growth, The Economist
• The food challenges China faces, Asia Sentinel