Hostage crisis affects Japan bourses
Tokyo: As Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refused to give in to the demands of Iraqi captors to pull Japanese troops out of Iraq, the stock markets took a hit, with the benchmark Nikkei stock average, which had neared a 32-month high on Thursday, ending over a per cent lower on selling across the board.
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Chinese pension fund to enter overseas markets
Beijing: China has freed its national pension fund to invest abroad, though the National Social Security Fund Council didn't say when the investments would begin or how large they might be. Chinese birth-control policies allow couples only one child, and as such that is expected to yield a high retiree-to-worker ratio. The demand for retirement funds in the world's most populous nation, accordingly, is expected to be acute in the coming decades. The fund's assets total 132.5 billion yuan (US$16 billion), according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
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