IBT Staff Reporter

Dollar funding costs edged higher on Tuesday as China's yuan slipped, dashing bets that Beijing may allow it to appreciate more rapidly after a pledge to make the currency more flexible.

Asian stocks and commodities retreated on Tuesday as wary investors took profits from a rally ignited by China's weekend decision to give its currency more flexibility.

Oil fell as much as 1.1 percent to below $77 on Tuesday on speculation that a gradual appreciation of the yuan would have a limited impact on China's petroleum imports in the short term.

South Korea plans to lower eventually the ceiling on currency derivatives for branches of foreign banks, bringing it at par with that imposed on domestic banks, a senior finance ministry official said on Tuesday.

Gold gained on Tuesday after China's central bank raised the yuan's mid-point, spurring early buying in the euro that encouraged bargain hunting after bullion dropped sharply from a record high the previous day.

The euro retreated from a one-month high against the dollar on Tuesday, tracking a pullback in the yuan a day after China pledged to allow its currency to trade more freely.

The Chinese yuan slipped on Tuesday as big state-owned banks heavily bought dollars, a move that suggests the central bank has adopted a new strategy to control the pace of yuan gains.

The euro slipped on Tuesday, giving back gains made after China set the yuan's mid-point at its highest since the yuan's revaluation in 2005, as players wondered how fast the Chinese authorities would let their currency rise.

Gold prices extended gains in Asian trade Tuesday as the euro surged after China's central bank set the yuan's daily mid-point at a record high, against the dollar, in five years.

Gold prices have once again climbed to record levels of $1264 last week before correcting on profit taking thereby cementing the appeal of the yellow metal as a safe haven for investors. China announced its move toward a more flexible currency exchange rate mechanism which has improved the investor sentiments in general but the softening of the dollar has helped the recent surge in gold prices to record levels.

U.S. film studio Spyglass Entertainment has emerged as the leading contender to run debt-ridden Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday as investors booked profits a day after China's weekend decision to give its currency more flexibility triggered a risk rally.

Google Inc and Twitter Inc have asked an appeals court to overturn a lower court's decision to bar Theflyonthewall.com from issuing immediate news on analyst research from several Wall Street banks, court documents showed.

British Airways said it had agreed a recovery plan for its 3.7 billion pound ($5.5 billion) pension deficit, potentially removing a final obstacle to its planned merger with Spain's Iberia .

China pulled back the veil on its new currency regime a little further on Tuesday, appearing to engineer a fall in the yuan to make clear its vow of flexibility did not include one-way bets for appreciation.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc offered a plan on Monday aimed at winning over union leaders and Chicago lawmakers in its attempt to open dozens of stores in the city over the next five years.

Communications regulators are holding a series of closed-door meetings with phone, cable and Internet lobbyists in an effort to hammer out a deal over how broadband should be regulated, a senior official said on Monday.

China's yuan jumped on Tuesday to its highest level since the currency was revalued in 2005 as the central bank signaled it would tolerate yet further gains to make good on its vow for more foreign exchange flexibility.

Asian markets waited with bated breath Tuesday to see how far Beijing would go in allowing its currency to strengthen, a litmus test of just how flexible the Chinese authorities are prepared to be to meet U.S. demands.

New Jersey Democratic legislators on Monday failed to gather enough votes to extend a tax on millionaires that would have been used to provide property tax relief for senior citizens and the disabled.

Brazil's state oil company Petrobras announced on Monday a 29 percent investment hike over five years as it stepped up its campaign to tap some of the world's largest deposits of deep sea oil.

Amazon.com Inc and Barnes & Noble Inc reduced prices of their electronic readers on Monday, responding to the threat from Apple Inc's iPad tablet computer.

The AUD has opened lower this morning currently trading around USD0.8765 as profit taking entered the market following the announcement from the Chinese central bank regarding the Chinese Yuan.

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China's signal it will let its yuan currency appreciate is good news for global manufacturers and resource companies that supply the world's third-biggest economy with the equipment and commodities it needs to fuel growth.

The Supreme Court said on Monday it would hear JPMorgan Chase & Co's appeal over a lawsuit accusing the bank of violating federal law by failing to notify credit card holders before raising interest rates due to late payments or defaults.

Press release service Business Wire said on Monday it will no longer accept releases by email after it inadvertently distributed a hoax statement involving a small pharmaceutical company, days after its main rival was burned in a similar fashion.

Connecticut's attorney general will lead a multi-state probe of whether Google Inc broke the law when it siphoned personal data off wireless networks around the world, which the Internet search leader has said was inadvertent.

Commodity currencies rallied on Friday, with the Aussie advancing to a new monthly high reaching 0.8712 USD.