Reuters Business Report at 0640 GMT

REUTERS BUSINESS REPORT

Friday, November 7, 2008

Sonya Hepinstall and Mathew Veedon +65 6870-3827

0230, 0630 GMT

Jason Neely +44 207 542 8825

0930, 1330 GMT

Picture Desk: Singapore +65 6870 3775

Graphics queries: +65 6870 3595

(All times GMT)

TOP HEADLINES

SINGAPORE - Korea cuts rates; Obama to address global crisis

TOKYO - Panasonic, Sanyo announce merger plans

TOP STORIES

SINGAPORE - South Korea's central bank cut interest rates for the third time in a month to soothe markets and shore up its economy, after a flurry of deep rate cuts across Europe failed to calm panicky investors (FINANCIAL/ (TOPWRAP 2), moved at 0637, pix, tv, by Jan Dahinten, 800 words)

See also: KOREA-ECONOMY/ (UPDATE 3), expect by 0800, by Cheon Jong-woo and Seo Eun-kyung, pix, 600 words)

TOKYO - Japanese electronics firms Panasonic and Sanyo announce plans to merge, creating Japan's largest electronics maker in terms of revenue in a deal that one analyst estimates could be worth about $8.8 billion (SANYO-PANASONIC/ (UPDATE 2), moving shortly, by Kiyoshi Takenaka, 700 words)

MARKETS

HONG KONG - Most Asian stock markets recover from early losses to trade largely unchanged on hopes for further policy action in the face of a rapidly slowing global economy, though oil prices remained not far from a 1-1/2-year low hit earlier below $60 a barrel (MARKETS-GLOBAL (WRAPUP 3), expect by 0700, by Kevin Plumberg, 400 words)

PERTH - Oil reverses course and rises above $61 a barrel, buoyed by a weakening U.S. dollar, but gains were tempered as an increasingly gloomy economic outlook continued to weigh on near-term energy demand (MARKETS-OIL/ (UPDATE 3), expect by 0700, by Fayen Wong, 550 words)

TOKYO - The yen rises against the euro and sterling due to a drop in risk appetite and as investors brace for the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to lower interest rates further (MARKETS-FOREX (UPDATE 2), expect by 0640, by Masayuki Kitano 600 words)

ANALYSES

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG - Investment banks already under fire for risky lending practices in Western markets are facing another barrage of criticism over selling a raft of currency and commodity derivatives that have now turned toxic (FINANCIAL/BANKS-DERIVATIVES (ANALYSIS), expect by 0900, by Jonathan Leff and Michael Flaherty, 900 words)

SYDNEY - Independent News & Media plc's likely A$555 million ($370 million) sale of its APN News & Media Ltd stake is littered with challenges, giving cashed-up buyers such as Seven Network Holdings Ltd upper hand in the deal (DEALTALK/AUSTRALIA-INDEPENDENT, moved at 0454, by Denny Thomas, 550 words)

TOKYO - An acquisition spree by local rivals has turned the spotlight on Astellas Pharma Inc, the only major Japanese drugmaker not to purchase a big firm in the past year and arguably the one which needs a deal most (ASTELLAS/ (ANALYSIS), moved at 0546, by Yumiko Nishitani, 700 words)

TAIPEI/LONDON - Some developing markets run the risk of seeing global investment flows fall further after economies shut their equity markets outright or clamped price controls during the peak of the financial crisis (DEVELOPINGMARKETS (ANALYSIS), moved at 0114, by Faith Hung and Carolyn Cohn, about 800 words)

ECONOMY

BANGKOK - The Bank of Thailand is ready to cut interest rates if third-quarter gross domestic product data due later this month confirms an economic slowdown, Governor Tarisa Watanagase says (THAILAND-ECONOMY/ (UPDATE 1), moved at 0544, by Vithoon Amorn and Kitiphong Thaichareon,, 400 words)

BEIJING - China's cabinet gives approval for insurers to buy equity in private firms in an effort to widen their investment channels, the industry regulator says (CHINA-INSURANCE/INVESTMENT (UPDATE 1), moved at 0533, 400 words)

SYDNEY - Australia's unemployment rate is likely to rise by over 2 full percentage points by 2010 as a gathering global recession wipes out six years of job gains, a survey of analysts shows (AUSTRALIA-ECONOMY/EMPLOYMENT (POLL), moved at 0455, by Wayne Cole, 700 words)

TAIPEI - Taiwan is scheduled to release October trade data, with economists expecting exports to fall by an annual 1.9 percent, suffering a second straight monthly drop and the biggest decline in 20 months, reflecting weak technology demand in China and the United States (TAIWAN-ECONOMY/, expect by 1000, by Lee Chyen Yee, 500 words)

MANILA - The Philippine economy may expand 4.5 to 5.1 percent this year, slightly higher than a previous estimate of 4.4-4.9 percent, based on updated targets a government committee is studying, a member of the committee says (PHILIPPINES-ECONOMY/GDP, moved at 0614, 400 words)

RESOURCES

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says rich nations must abandon their "unsustainable lifestyle" to fight global warming and give more help to poor nations bearing the brunt of worsening droughts and rising sea levels (CHINA-CLIMATE/ (UPDATE 1), expect by 0700, tv, by Chris Buckley and Emma Graham-Harrison, 600 words)

See also: CHINA-CLIMATE/FINANCIAL (INTERVIEW), moved at 0353, by Emma Graham-Harrison, 650 words)

TOKYO - Japan's greenhouse gas emissions are rising, data to be released next week is expected to show, underscoring the huge challenge the government faces in meeting its targets under the Kyoto Protocol climate pact (CLIMATE/JAPAN (PREVIEW), expect by 0800, by Risa Maeda, 750 words)

SEOUL - Asian steel prices continue to fall this week to a one-year low, led by construction-use products, and are expected to fall further as the demand outlook dims more and the deepening credit crisis forces mills to cut inventories (STEEL-PHYSICAL/ASIA, expect by 0800, by Miyoung Kim, 500 words)

SYDNEY - Papua New Guinea is close to reaching a deal with Abu Dhabi fund International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to raise A$1.68 billion ($1.1 billion), through exchangeable bonds for Oil Search Ltd, to fund its stake in an $11 billion LNG project (PNG-OILSEARCH/, moved at 0528, by Michael Perry, 500 words)

BEIJING - Petrobras is in talks with top Asian oil refiner Sinopec on taking a refinery stake in China, but there have been no concrete developments yet as companies face higher costs, says the chief of Brazil's state-owned energy firm (PETROBRAS-CHINA/ (UPDATE 1), moved at 0520, 300 words)

COMPANIES

SINGAPORE - DBS Group, Southeast Asia's biggest bank, posts a 38 percent drop in quarterly profit, below expectations, as losses from bad debts quadruple and it warns the financial crisis has made business challenging (DBS/ (UPDATE 3), expect by 0800, pix, graphic, by Saeed Azhar, 700 words)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's biggest bank, HSBC, cut its prime lending rate to a four-year low following a sharp drop in interbank rates this week as central banks in Europe and Asia slashed interest rates (HSBC-PRIME (UPDATE 1), moved at 0552, by Christina Lo, 500 words)

BEIJING - Chinese companies' hunger to acquire natural resource firms is as voracious as ever despite turmoil in commodities market, but executives will likely wait for prices to fall even more before striking deals (CHINA-SUMMIT/M&A, moved at 0317, by Michael Flaherty, 650 words)

HONG KONG - China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world' No. 4 PC maker, posts a 78 percent plunge in quarterly earnings on slower shipments and lower margins, as the global financial crisis crimps appetite for technology products (LENOVO/ (UPDATE 2), by Joseph Chaney, expect by 0830, 650 words)

TAIPEI - Taiwan's UMC, the world's No.2 contract chip maker, says October sales fell 22 percent from a year ago, showing weaker demand for computers and an array of consumer gadgets in a slowing global economy (UMC/ (UPDATE 1), expect by 0700, by Baker Li, about 400 words)

MELBOURNE - Australia's Ansell Ltd, the world's top rubber gloves maker, makes a positive start to fiscal 2009 and is on track to meet earnings guidance of 70 to 74 U.S. cents a share, the company says (ANSELL/ (INTERVIEW, UPDATE 1), moved at 0540, 300 words)

SHANGHAI - Google's China's market share will grow compared with other markets next year despite the downturn from the global financial crisis, the head of Google's China operations says (GOOGLE-CHINA/, moved at 0537, 250 words)

SYDNEY - A dramatic fall in zinc prices has left at least half the world's zinc producers unprofitable and prompted Australia's CBH Resources Ltd to cut output by a third and review takeover plans for rival Perilya Ltd, CBH says (CBH/ (INTERVIEW, UPDATE 1), moved at 0449, by James Regan, 600 words)

DETROIT - Chrysler LLC is rapidly burning through cash and being driven to prepare for a possible break-up if it can't clinch a merger with General Motors Corp or get government funding needed to ride out the economic crisis, say people with knowledge of the situation (CHRYSLER/, moved at 0402, by Poornima Gupta and Kevin Krolicki, 800 words)

SYDNEY - Software giant Microsoft Corp dismisses speculation it might still be interested in a takeover of Internet firm Yahoo Inc (MICROSOFT-YAHOO/ (UPDATE 2), moved at 0355, by Jonathan Standing, 400 words)

HELSINKI - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd passes Motorola Inc in the third quarter to became the leading cellphone handset vendor in the United States, research firm Strategy Analytics says (HANDSETS/USA, moved at 0600, by Tarmo Virki, 300 words)

FEATURES

HONG KONG - In vogue in the past few years, art galleries in Hong Kong are now bracing for a slump as the disposable incomes of the city's bankers, businessmen and middle-class professionals shrink (FINANCIAL-ART/ASIA (BUSINESS FEATURE), moved at 0003, pix, by James Pomfret, 900 words)

SINGAPORE - Cancer patient Lim Qing Si was one of thousands of hard-working Singaporeans who lost their savings in the financial crisis, especially when Lehman Brothers collapsed and its secured products became virtually worthless (FINANCIAL-SINGAPORE/INVESTORS