JAPAN

Mitsubishi Motors Corp on Thursday announced its plans to invest $532 million in a new Thailand plant, where it will manufacture 'global small' cars in March 2012.

Consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp said on Friday it sees no strong recovery in year-end sales in North America and Europe, but expects to pull its loss-making TV unit into the black in the January-March quarter.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rise 0.1 to 0.3 percent, pointing to a firmer start on Wall Street on Friday.

Japanese stocks fell on Friday after a rise to a seven-month high earlier in the day prompted profit taking, although they outperformed the rest of Asia this week, while U.S. Treasuries steadied on the view yields had risen too high, too quickly.

Japanese stocks slipped from a seven-month high on Friday on profit taking, though were poised to outperform the rest of Asia this week, while U.S. Treasuries were steady on the view yields had risen too high, too quickly.

Why did China avoid a steep recession and bounced back relatively quickly? The answer is its massive fiscal stimulus, according to Richard Koo.

Foreign central banks' overall holdings of marketable securities at the Federal Reserve fell in the latest week, data from the U.S. central bank showed on Thursday.

Production at one of Toshiba Corp's key chip factories has been halted by a brief cut in power, the company said, hitting output of NAND flash memory used in tablet computers and smartphones.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to higher opening after the Department of Labor reported that weekly jobless claims declined last week.

For the first time, a private company has successfully launched a spacecraft to orbit and returned it to Earth.

Crude oil futures advanced on Thursday as dollar weakened against major foreign currencies and stock markets rose after better-than-expected Japanese economic growth.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to higher opening on Thursday as better-than-expected Japanese economic growth boosted sentiment.

Toyota Tsusho Corp, the trading company part-owned by Toyota Motor Corp will build a rare earth processing plant in India to secure supply sources outside China.

Production at one of Toshiba Corp's key chip factories has been halted by a brief cut in power, the company said, hitting its output of NAND flash memory and likely helping rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics.

With emerging economic powerhouse China snapping at its heels, Japan on Thursday said it still remained the second-largest economy in the world, and raised its third quarter gross domestic product growth to 4.5 percent on an annual basis.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent. at 1051 GMT.

U.S. Treasury prices edged up on Thursday as bargain hunters entered the fray after a violent two-day surge in yields, pulling the dollar lower, while Asian stocks rose on hopes added fiscal stimulus will help the U.S. economy in the near term.

The government of South Korea is trying to drum up foreign direct investments through free economic zones (FEZ), or areas that offer financial incentives for foreign investments.

In a conference on Wednesday in mid-town Manhattan, The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) presented reasons why South Korea makes for an attractive investment candidate for foreigners.

Nintendo faces a tough battle to boost growth as rivals snatch the lead in motion-controlled gaming from the long-time world-beater, just as competition from smartphones and tablets batters the handheld market.

Yum Brands Inc said China would surpass the United States as the fast-food restaurant operator's top profit generator this year, and the Chinese market's potential is still largely untapped.