Car sales growth in China, the world's second-largest auto market, slowed to a single-digit rate last year for the first time in at least 10 years as consumer confidence waned with a slowing economy, spurring government steps to bolster demand, The Korea Herald reported. Analysts said the outlook for this year remained bleak, although tax incentives and other measures may help to keep the market from shrinking, while some automakers such as the Japanese have been able to cushion the blow by introducing new models.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. said it can keep operating in the wake of revelations its former chairman faked results--but it is strapped for cash and its investigation into the true state of its finances is being hampered by the absence of the chief financial officer, who has tendered his resignation. The chairman of the Securities & Exchange Board of India said officials from the markets regulator started arriving at Satyam Thursday to begin their probe, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Another company headed by Christchurch property developer Dave Henderson is in receivership, The Press reported. Receivers were appointed to Elgin Investments Ltd on December 5, Companies Office records show. The company owns the Sydenham Central Mall (formerly the Spotlight Plaza) in Colombo Street, the key tenant being a Spotlight store. Christchurch property management company Livingstones will continue to manage the mall. Shares in the company are owned by investors in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Hong Kong and Australia. The mall has been on the market for at least a year.

China has bought more than $1 trillion in American debt, but as the global downturn has intensified, Beijing is starting to keep more of its money at home, a shift that could pose some challenges to the U.S. government in the near future but eventually may even produce salutary effects on the world economy, the International Herald Tribune reported. The declining Chinese appetite for U.S. debt, apparent in a series of hints from Chinese policy makers over the past two weeks, comes at an inopportune time.

According to a recent study conducted by Asian Banker Research, Malaysia is listed fourth in the Asia Pacific region's most creditor-friendly bankruptcy regimes where creditors can expect to recover more than 80 cents in the dollar of assets they are owed, the Malaysian national news agency reported. The findings of the study released today said Singapore and Japan were Asia Pacific region's most creditor-friendly bankruptcy regimes where creditors could expect to recover more than 90 cents in the dollar. Taiwan came third with a similar rate of recovery with Malaysia.

A failed business venture in China helped send Niagara Machine Products Corp. of St. Catharines into receivership, according to a representative of the company's Toronto receiver, Zeifman Partners Inc., The Standard reported. "They had a significant investment, a joint venture in China, and that went sideways," Allan Rutman said about the collaboration with Chinese steel producer Baosteel. Niagara Machine, which employs 210 workers, announced in a news release Monday that it is under receivership.

The quickening pace of Russia's rouble devaluation is piling pressure on the currencies of its neighbours and putting those without Moscow's sizeable reserves at risk of foreign debt default and further capital flight, Forbes reported. Investors are shying away from currencies such as Ukraine's hryvnia as the world economic slowdown crushes demand for its exports, global risk aversion shines a harsh light on Kiev's turbulent politics and Russia demonstrates its stranglehold on the country's energy supplies.

Corporate earnings will continue to slump into the first half of 2009 amid the first simultaneous recessions in the U.S., Japan and Europe since World War II, Bloomberg reported on analyst estimates. While profits will rise 4.3 percent for the full year in the U.S., earnings in Europe are projected to decline for all of 2009 and analysts predict worsening reports out of Asia because the recession hasn’t fully hit there yet. Earnings at European oil companies may drop 21 percent in 2009, compared with a 4.7 percent gain last year, according to estimates.

The Taiwan government said Monday it plans to provide 200 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$6.1 billion) in financial aid for struggling large companies, with memory-chip maker Nanya Technology Corp. aiming to submit a proposal to the government for assistance as soon as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported. Taiwan's export-dependent economy is feeling the sharp slowdown in global trade, and the island's producers of dynamic random access memory chips are facing the sector's worst downturn ever.

Expectations of a prolonged economic slump combined with a renewed assault on lawyers’ fees means that top City law firms are bracing themselves for a painful 2009, the Times Online reported. Aware that the good times would not last forever, City law firms have positioned themselves to weather the downturn but their efforts may not provide enough insulation against the current climate. Tony Williams, head of law firm consultancy Jomati, warns that two important hedges that City law firms traditionally rely on in a downturn may prove ineffective next year.