CHINA

(Corrects to show gain in Honda sales was nearly 25 percent, not 20 percent, in paragraph 6)

Ford Motor Co posted a 33 percent sales gain for December as U.S. auto sales ended 2009 on an upswing after a tumultuous year that saw GM and Chrysler collapse into bankruptcy and China overtake the United States as the biggest car market.

India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) may consider launching its ultra-cheap Nano car in the United States in three years, its chairman said on Tuesday, following possible sales in Europe by the end of 2011.

U.S. copper futures tiptoed into positive territory Tuesday morning, after a steep drop in U.S. pending home sales dragged the dollar down and an increase in factory orders bolstered recovery hopes in the manufacturing sector.

Two Chinese companies are targeting up to a combined $1.5 billion from initial public share offerings in Hong Kong in the first quarter, reinforcing the fundraising wave that made it the world's No.1 IPO market in 2009.

International Mining Machinery Ltd. (IMM), a Chinese mining equipment company, aims to raise about $500 million from a Hong Kong initial public offering by February, sources close to the deal told Reuters on Tuesday.

Canada-listed coal miner SouthGobi Energy Resources (SGQ.TO) plans to raise about $400 million from a Hong Kong initial public offering this month, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters.

AgBank, China's No. 3 lender by assets, is likely to make its multibillion dollar IPO only in the second half of 2010 or even later, as it tries to sort out its bad loans and waits out an expected round of capital raising by other Chinese lenders, sources said on Tuesday.

Dealmakers in China may well find a lot of the action this year in an unlikely place.

U2 front man Bono has suggested that movie company success in fighting piracy could help the U.S. economically.

Toyota Motor Co and Honda Motor Co launched new compact cars to tap the fast-growing and price-sensitive India market as they and other automakers seek to put a dire 2009 behind them.

Toyota Motor Co , seeking to draw a line under a dire 2009, is ramping up in India with the launch of a new low-cost compact car to tap the fast-growing market.

Asia stocks rose to a 17-month high on Tuesday as growing confidence about the prospects for the global economy drew investors to riskier assets and away from the dollar, which extended its weak start to the year.

Looser foreign exchange policies in emerging Asia, particularly China, would benefit everyone but the desire for change may have diminished post-crisis, European Central Bank policymaker Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said on Tuesday.

Lenovo Group Ltd on Monday formally took the wraps off its first smartbook, a device that breaks free from the traditional Wintel hold on the mobile computing segment.

Growing confidence about the global economy lifted Asian stocks to a fresh 17-month high on Tuesday as investors continued to be drawn to riskier assets, while the dollar stabilized after a weak start to the year.

World oil prices advanced near $82 a barrel in Asian trade Tuesday mainly on better demand for fuel as winter weather spreads to more areas in the northern hemisphere. Lights sweet crude for February delivery was seen trading at $81.84 a barrel at 12.00 noon Singapore time while Brent crude was at $80.47 a barrel at the same time.

Do you know among the commodities metals were the best performing ones in 2009? If not, remember that not only gold other metals also performed extremely well in 2009 riding on hopes for a global economic recovery and fears of runaway inflation.

Ford Motor's China car venture sold 316,139 units in 2009, up 54.5 percent from a year earlier, its Chinese partner said on Tuesday.

Michael Widenius, the creator of the MySQL database and a vocal opponent of Oracle Corp's (ORCL.O) $7 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc (JAVA.O), has handed 14,000 signatures opposing the deal to regulators in Europe, China and Russia.

Optical and electronic instruments maker II-VI Inc (IIVI.O) raised its revenue outlook for fiscal 2010, helped by its recent acquisition of China-based Photop Technologies Inc.