| * Asian markets struggle to find fresh catalysts * G20 leaders grapple with risks of reduced US monetary stimulus * Watchdog launches Batista investigation * Apple probes work conditions at China factory * Volatility in the yuan was near a three-year low and ttrading has more than tripled over the past three years * Russia's Sergei Storchak warns on corporate foreign currency debt * China's model stimulus has more to show for it than US * Usmanov's Mail.ru cashes in on Facebook recovery * Europe urges China to cede business control * Markets: wandering Asian markets struggle to find fresh catalysts
Asian markets were mixed as investors struggled to find new catalysts after a string of data releases earlier in the week. (Financial Times)
G20 leaders grapple with risks of reduced US monetary stimulus
Leaders at the Group of 20 summit were on Thursday grappling with the risks posed by a potential reduction of US monetary stimulus and worries over trade protectionism amid shift of economic momentum towards advanced economies. (Financial Times) Watchdog launches Batista investigation: Brazil's market regulator, CVM, has launched a formal investigation into the dealings of Eike Batista and executives at OGX as anger grows among investors over the near-collapse of his flagship oil company. CVM said on Thursday it had opened an inquiry into whether Brazil's former richest man had broken market rules regulating the disclosure of information. (Financial Times) Apple is investigating fresh allegations of poor working conditions at a Chinese factory said to be producing a cheaper iPhone, expected to be unveiled next week. It comes after China Labor Watch, a New York-based campaign group, said in a report that its investigations at Jabil Circuit's factory in Wuxi found employees working more than the 60-hour maximum working week that Apple requires of its suppliers. It also found employees were forced to work overtime. (Financial Times) Volatility in the yuan was near a three-year low after PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China has ample measures to cope with any halt in quantitative easing policies. (Bloomberg) While "trading in the Chinese currency, also known as the renminbi, has more than tripled over the past three years, to $120 billion a day in 2013, the BIS said, referencing survey data from April. Daily U.S. dollar trading in 2013 has averaged $4.65 trillion." (Wall Street Journal) Russia's Sergei Storchak warns on corporate foreign currency debt
Russia's deputy finance minister has expressed concern about companies' rising foreign-currency debt levels amid recent emerging market turmoil. (Financial Times)
China's model stimulus has more to show for it than US
The fiscal policies of the US and China, the world's largest and second largest economies, are the mirror image of each other. In a sense both stimulus programmes have reinforced existing economic imbalances, albeit in opposite directions. And both in their way represent lost opportunities. (Financial Times)
Usmanov's Mail.ru cashes in on Facebook recovery
Mail.ru, the Russian internet portal partly owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, has sold its remaining stake in Facebook, one of its flagship investments. (Financial Times)
Europe urges China to cede business control
European business representatives have accused Chinese regulators of unfairly targeting foreign companies in a series of recent corruption and monopoly investigations. (Financial Times) Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index up +0.08% at 948.44 Americas
DJIA up +0.04% at 14,937
S&P 500 up +0.12% at 1,655
Bovespa up +1.23% at 52,352 Asia
Nikkei 225 down -1.05% at 13,917
Topix down -0.73% at 1,149
Hang Seng up +0.23% at 22,649
Shanghai Composite up +0.32% at 2,129
MSCI Asia ex-Japan up +0.15% at 518.45
CNX Nifty down -0.08% at 5,588 Currencies
€/$ 1.31 (1.31)
$/¥ 99.78 (100.11) Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.05 at 115.21
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.01 at 108.36
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -2.70 at 1,370 | 
