A selloff in Chinese stocks Wednesday, in part on fears that loan growth could be braking, sent a jolt through other regional markets from Mumbai to Sydney, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hopes of a world-wide economic recovery increasingly center on continued growth in the developing world, and China in particular. The Australian dollar has been rising on expectations of Chinese purchases of the country's metals and other resources. U.S. and European banks and consulting firms hope China's continued growth will generate fee income that has become scarcer at home.

When top US and Chinese officials meet on Monday for the first high-level talks of the Obama administration, the American complaints about China’s currency that long bedevilled relations will barely be on the table, the Financial Times reported. For years, Washington alleged that Beijing unfairly manipulated its currency, the renminbi, to support exports, and demanded that China allow it to appreciate to force structural changes in its economy.

China's Beijing Auto said intellectual property issues were behind its failure to reach an deal with General Motors over its Opel unit. General Motors' European business said on Thursday it had agreed to continue detailed talks with both Magna and RHJ International on its German unit Opel, but did not mention Beijing Auto, which had also submitted an offer. Beijing Auto did not mention in the statement what are the next possible steps after the end of its Opel bid.

General Motors Corp. on Monday said it received final offers for its Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe from three bidders, without naming them, The Wall Street Journal reported. A person familiar with matter said Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., owned by the Chinese government, has submitted a final bid. Another person close to the discussions on Friday said Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. and Belgian investment group RHJ International SA are the front-runners to clinch the deal.

Australia's trade minister said on Monday China's detention of Rio Tinto employees would not hurt economic relations if handled properly, but said the case was a signal to everyone looking to invest in China, Reuters reported.

After quitting his job as a senior engineer at Chrysler to join China's fledgling domestic auto industry, Frank Zhao had a stark premonition. “I saw the end of Detroit," says 45-year-old Mr. Zhao, who now supervises 1,200 engineers building a new generation of vehicles for Geely Holding Group Co., one of China's top-selling brands. Geely, with a group of financial backers, is now considered a front-runner in the bidding for Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit, The Wall Street Journal reported. A decision could come in the next several weeks, according to people familiar with the situation.

A summit of the Non-Aligned Movement opened at Egyptian Red Sea resort town Sharm El-Sheik Wednesday with a call from Cuban President Raul Castro for a new international financial system to shield developing nations from the global recession, The Associated Press reported. The new system, he said, must give developing countries "preferential treatment." He did not elaborate. U.N.

General Motors’ plan to sell its European operations to a Canadian auto parts maker and a Russian bank appeared Monday to be in trouble, when another bidder said it was nearing a deal for the unit, The New York Times reported. R.H.J. International, a Brussels-listed industrial holding company, said in a statement that it was in talks with G.M. for the acquisition of a majority stake in the European subsidiary, Adam Opel, which includes the operations of Vauxhall in Britain.

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. outlined its main reason for wanting General Motors Corp.'s European unit Adam Opel GmbH: It wants to get its hands on the U.S. auto maker's engine technologies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Beijing Auto said in a document outlining a takeover offer that access to GM's advanced technology was the "key driver" for its bid, which is aimed at outpacing Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. in the race for Opel. According to the document, GM would have to "license all alternative propulsion technologies (i.e.

The detention by authorities in China of four Rio Tinto PLC employees this week, at a time when the mining company is engaged in major business deals in the country, offers a reminder of how the country's murky legal system can be entwined with its commercial interests, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Australian government said Wednesday that one of the Rio Tinto employees, a general manager involved in iron-ore sales, is accused of stealing Chinese state secrets, apparently in the course of his employment.