Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words fall+rose. 2 news.

INDIA, the world's second-biggest wheat consumer, scrapped a tender to buy 350,000 tons of the grain after balking at higher prices amid expectations domestic production will be the highest in seven years. "Prices are too high," India's Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News in New Delhi yesterday. "We will take a decision on importing more wheat after the next wheat crop." The country should meet an output target of 75.5 million tons, the most since 2000, the farm ministry said on December 18. India, importing wheat for a second year to boost state reserves, may wait a few months before issuing a new tender as it expects prices to fall. Wheat rose above US$10 a bushel in Chicago for the first time on December 17 after concerns dry weather in Argentina, the world's fourth-biggest exporter, will shrink global supplies. "We may not import wheat as of now," Pillai said. Government-owned State Trading Corp on

THE mortgage delinquency ratio in Hong Kong dropped to 0.11 percent and the rescheduled loan ratio fell to 0.2 percent, both record lows, driving the combined ratio lower to 0.32 percent, according to a report yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also found in the monthly survey that new mortgage loans drawn down rose 17.5 percent to HK$18.7 billion (US$2.4 billion).