Netbook demand picks up

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Russia almost halved in the first nine months of the year, the statistics office said on Friday, as the economic crisis reduced the country's appeal for investors.

Oil prices dropped on Friday and were likely to stay under 80 dollars because of high energy inventories in the United States, the world's biggest energy-consuming nation, analysts said.

US President Barack Obama, back from a tour of Asia, called Saturday for the United States to produce more goods to sell across the Pacific, touting trade as a way to revive the troubled US economy.

India has scrapped tenders to import rice, saying it has enough stocks to manage despite a harvest shortfall following the worst monsoon in almost four decades.

The International Monetary Fund said Friday Sri Lanka's foreign reserves have reached "comfortable levels," helped by a bailout package, but economic growth was still below potential.

South Korean shipbuilding giant STX is cutting 351 jobs in France through voluntary departures at the historic Saint-Nazaire shipyard, company officials said on Friday.

International Markets
The US dollar remained mostly steady against its major rivals, as the market was range-bound. The euro climbed more than half a percent against the dollar but struggled on to break back above $1.5000. It has remained within the range of a large $1.48-$1.51 "double no touch" options structure rolling off on Friday. The dollar and the yen rose near the end of the week as equity and commodity markets fell, encouraging investors to pare back exposure to risk and buy back the two low-yielders against perceived riskier currencies. Analysts said some investors were already taking risk off the table heading into the year end, wary that the recent rally in risky assets may have been overdone and that economic data has not been as rosy as forecast. A senior economic advisor to the German government highlighted these concerns as he told Reuters Television that Germany could face a double-dip recession in late 2010 or early 2011 as extra public spending is withdrawn. Analysts said investors were also wary of emerging market countries looking at capital controls to limit some of the hot money flows into their economies, with new steps announced by Brazil and South Korea. The market will watch US jobless benefit claims for the week ended Nov 14 to see if the labour market is stabilising. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 505,000 new filings compared with 502,000 the week before.