Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word trade. 32 news.

THE Chinese mainland will let its commercial banks invest in UK stocks and funds in the first expansion of the country's international investment program outside Hong Kong. The nation reached an agreement with the UK financial regulator for investments by the banks under the qualified domestic institutional investor, or QDII, program, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on its Website yesterday. The government is loosening restrictions on overseas investment to counter inflows from a record trade surplus that have driven up local stock and property prices, Bloomberg News said. The mainland will "soon" come to a similar agreement with the United States authorities, the regulator said. "Expanding the number of markets that QDII funds can invest in helps raise banks' investment and risk management capacities, and also helps investors diversify their risk," the statement said, without providing further details. The release didn't say when QDII funds

SOUTH Korea's largest retailer Lotte Shopping Co plans to acquire a stake in a Chinese discount-store chain to expand its presence on the Chinese mainland, the Seoul-listed company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. Lotte agreed to buy a 49-percent stake in CTA Makro, which now operates five discount stores in Beijing and two in Tianjin, from SHV Holdings NV for 57.6 million euros (US$82.90 million). The Netherlands-based SHV Holdings IV now operates CTA Makro with a 49-percent stake while China Trade Association Property Corp Ltd owns 51 percent. Lotte also plans to open another outlet in Beijing next year, according to the statement. However, the acquisition plan is still awaiting China's regulatory approval. Shanghai Daily's call to CTA Makro yesterday was not answered. The retailer, which controls more than 40 percent of South Korea's department store market and 14 percent of discount stores, is preparing to open new outlets through land purchases and buying existing

SINGAPORE'S exports unexpectedly dropped for the first time in six months in November as shipments by electronics companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers slumped. Non-oil domestic exports sank 3.4 percent from a year earlier following a revised 6.5 percent gain in October, the government's trade promotion agency said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists was for a 4.5-percent increase. Singapore's electronic shipments have declined each month since February as a global inventory glut caused prices for memory chips and microprocessors to fall. "We don't see a lot of impetus for an early recovery in electronics, especially given the uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy," said Ho Woei Chen, an analyst at United Overseas Bank Ltd in Singapore. "The volatility in exports and production in the pharmaceutical sector remains." Exports dropped a seasonally adjusted six percent last month from October, when they fell a

SHANGHAIMART and Dubai-based leading regional online marketplace Tejari announced yesterday they will launch a portal in February next year to facilitate trade between China and the Middle East. Tian Hao, general manager of ShanghaiMart exhibition center, expects the new platform would help its members easily find buyers in the Middle East. China has become a major exporter to Dubai, the gateway to the region, of products including textiles, furniture and toys. "The portfolio of ShanghaiMart matches pretty well with the import portfolio of the Mideast," said Omar Hijazi, Tejari's chief executive.

INGERSOLL-RAND Co, the maker of Thermo King refrigerated trucks, has agreed to buy Trane Inc for US$10.1 billion in cash and stock to gain cooling systems for transportation and buildings. Ingersoll-Rand will pay US$36.50 in cash and 0.23 of a share for Trane, the Bermuda-based company said, according to Bloomberg News. That values the New Jersey-based air-conditioner maker's shares at US$47.81 based on Friday's closing price. Ingersoll-Rand will take on US$150 million of debt. Chief Executive Officer Herbert Henkel said the purchase of the air-conditioner maker will create a company with US$17 billion of sales, more than half coming from the heating and cooling business. Ingersoll-Rand this month completed the sale of its Bobcat construction-machinery unit, shifting its focus to refrigeration systems amid rising trade in frozen foods. "The market for transporting food is very strong," Sanjay Jha, a London-based analyst at Pali International, said in an interview.

THE United States' refusal to comply with a World Trade Organization decision on online gambling is threatening to undermine the entire set of rules binding the international trade system. The WTO is to decide soon on a demand from the tropical nation of Antigua and Barbuda for US$3.4 billion in annual compensation from the US, whose law banning Americans from betting on Internet gaming sites was first ruled illegal by the WTO in 2004. The implications of the case go far beyond Antigua, a nation of 69,000. That's because, instead of rewriting its gambling laws, the US rewrote its trade rules to remove the issue from the WTO's jurisdiction. The prospect that other nations may take a similar tack if cases don't go their way has spooked the international trade community. "This is by far the most significant WTO case ever," says Naotaka Matsukata, a policy adviser in Washington with Alston + Bird LLP and a former US trade official. Meanwhile, Antigua, which has

Reuters - Sentiment toward the U.S. housing sector remained poor in December and a regional factory index showed weakness, while other data on Monday suggested the dollar's shrinking value had boosted trade and capital inflows in recent months.

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising...

Counterfeiters use free trade zones to hide a drug’s provenance or to make or relabel adulterated products.

GENEVA - The United States will provide the European Union with new trade concessions in mail services and warehousing as part of a compensation deal over Washington's refusal to lift restrictions on Internet gambling, the European Union said Monday.

South American trade bloc Mercosur yesterday signed a free-trade pact with Israel, its first with a country outside Latin America. The deal followed two years of talks. ...

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Trade Organization has opened an investigation into whether the United States is violating international commerce rules that limit subsidies to American farmers, officials said Monday, three days after the U.S. Senate approved a new $286 billion farm bill....

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

This is the first free trade agreement between Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and a country outside of Latin America.

US stocks were set to extend last week's losses amid renewed concerns about inflation while shares in Trane, the heating and air conditioning systems company, soared in pre-market trade after Ingersoll-Rand agreed to acquire the company for $10.1bn

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- CIBC World Markets downgraded Swiss bank UBS to sector underperformer from sector performer on Monday. "We believe the shares are expensive at current levels vis a vis unrealistic consensus earnings estimates and given that we have little actual confidence in our 19% below consensus estimates," the broker said. UBS shares were down 3.2% in Swiss trade.

Counterfeiters use free trade zones to hide a drug’s provenance or to make or relabel adulterated products.

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.