CHINA

The US dollar jumped against its major counterparts in Asian trade on Tuesday, hitting a 1-1/2-month high against the yen, after North Korea shelled a South Korean island, leading worries that the lingering tensions between the countries could worsen. The North Korean move triggered a flight from risky assets into the greenback, which is widely considered a safer bet.

Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea's smallest automaker, said Tuesday it signed a 520 billion won (US$460 million) deal with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to sell a majority stake to the Indian utility vehicle maker.

Key technical supports make the way downward bumpy for gold and silver, probably aided by the long-term bullishness for the precious metals while many also expect the US dollar to weaken further.

Despite the hugely successful initial public offering General Motors (NYSE: GM) underwent last week, the company still has numerous questions surrounding it, particularly its huge pension liabilities. As such, David Silver, an equity research analyst at Wall Street Strategies in New York, believes that Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is the better auto company and more attractive stock right now.

The most serious [economic] challenge today is that of unemployment, said Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the WTO. Lamy urges countries to expand global trade, instead of clamping down on it, to create more jobs for everyone.

Property prices in China are expected to decrease by about 20 percent in 2011 and the market is likely to readjust in March or April next year, says a report.

United States' top envoy on North Korea, on Monday, stated that the evidence of a new North Korean nuclear plant was provocative. But, he also toned down the fears that the region was on the brink of a nuclear crisis.

China has trumped US to gain the top spot for the fastest supercomputer but IBM's Blue Gene, Blue Gene/Q, has been crowned the most energy-efficient of all supercomputers.

The Chinese government has announced a slew of measures to combat rising commodity prices, including boosting agricultural production and stabilizing supply of products and fertilizers.

The nation that once gloated over its ability to feed the entire world is seeing an explosion of poverty: The number of people surviving on food stamps is rising as biting unemployment refuses to abate, personal incomes have been falling while the debt bubble is inflating with each passing day and, in a more startling representation of the grim reality, tent cities are mushrooming as more and more people are pushed out of their ‘underwater’ homes.

In an eventful week, that passed through uncertainty about Ireland's response to a bailout offer, an unexpectedly higher Chinese inflation number and its policy response and largely mixed US data, investors remained cautious about the changing 'risk-friendliness' of commodities. In a mixed precious metals segment, silver rose 5 percent in the week and palladium was up by 4.4 pct while gold fell 1.1 percent and platinum dropped by 0.9 percent from previous Friday.

Continued uncertainty at Chile's Collahuasi, the world's third largest copper mine, is likely to render positives to copper prices on Monday, or maybe well into this week, offsetting the negatives due to an expected China rate move.

Amid fresh reports of nuclear activity in North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, will meet South Korean authorities on Monday. Both sides are to discuss on resuming the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the North.

Toyota motors will upgrade engine assembly lines worldwide to cut output cost and make even the smaller assembling units profitable, the Nikkei daily report said.

U.S. and Japanese officials are meeting to discuss whether the U.S. can supply rare earths to Japan. But uncertainties surrounding the American reserves remain, as there are no active mines in the U.S.

U.S. stocks finish a volatile week with modest gains on Friday, finishing flat for the week as a whole. In the absence of major economic data in the U.S., investors focused on moves by China to rein in their inflation, while Ireland continues to negotiate a bailout arrangement from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A former Ford Motor Company product engineer, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing trade secrets in a federal court, is likely to face six years prison term.

China will no longer give exemptions to foreign firms from the Urban Maintenance and Construction Tax and Education Surcharges.

The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan has promised to supply natural gas for the proposed Nabucco pipeline -- a project that could allow European Union (EU) countries to rely less on Russian energy in the future.

Precious metals slid from their day's highs on Friday in New York as fears that China will soon raise rates eroded the investment appeal commodities gained on good news from Europe.

S&P 500 Index slid 5.63 points, or 0.49 percent, to trade at 1,190.71 at 09:50 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 44.77 points, or 0.40 percent, to trade at 11,136.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.44 percent to trade at 2,503.47.