Vehicle sales up for December in South Korea
Seoul: South Korean automakers, led by Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors, have sold 14 per cent more vehicles in December on the back of rising demand in the United States, India and Europe. A recovery in domestic spending has also added to the rise in sales of the automakers.

Even as exports rose 9.7 per cent to 405,215 units, domestic sales jumped 30 per cent to 126,332 vehicles.

Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, sold 251,082 Sonatas, Santa Fe sport utility vehicles and other models in December, up from 230,233 units a year earlier. Its affiliate Kia reported sales of 128,259 vehicles last month, up from 123,309 units a year earlier.

December sales at GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, which was formed by General Motors and partners, rose to 124,721 units from 91,648. While domestic sales of its models in December rose 3.9 per cent, it also exported 114,246 vehicles, an increase of 40 per cent.

Renault Samsung Motors, which is 70 per cent owned by Renault, said sales rose 12.7 percent last month to 11,995 vehicles.

Hyundai Motor's sales reached 2.53 million cars last year, up from 2.28 million vehicles in 2004. Kia's sales advanced to 1.27 million units from 1.11 million vehicles during the same period.

Hyundai and Kia combined made up nearly three-fourths of the 5.22 million cars sold by the nation's automakers last year.
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Singapore GDP maintains scorching pace — expands 9.7 pc in Q4
Singapore: Singapore's economy has reported a rise for the third consecutive quarter in the last three months of 2005, according to data released by the trade ministry. The figures have revealed an annualized 9.7 per cent rise in the GDP for the fourth quarter.

The new figures follow a revised gain of 8.6 per cent in the previous three months.

Rising global demand for electronics goods is helping lift growth in Singapore and also in other Asian exporting economies such as those of Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan. Singapore's S$107bn economy has also received a boost from higher outputs from drugs companies.

Singapore's Straits Times Index has gained for six straight sessions, as of today - the longest winning streak since Aug. 2.

The gains by the index come on expectations that sustained economic growth will boost earnings.

Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong on Dec. 31 reiterated the government's growth forecast of 3 per cent to 5 per cent for 2006 after revealing the economy expanded 5.7 percent last year. From a year earlier, the Singapore economy gained 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Continued growth in the S$107bn economy and a pick-up in inflation may prompt Singapore's central bank to stick to its policy of allowing a ``gradual and modest'' appreciation of its currency this year.
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UK MPs committee to urge curbs against giant retailers
London: An all-party committee of UK MPs is expected to recommend that leading supermarket chains, such as Tesco, should be subject to stricter planning and fair trading controls in order to give corner shops and smaller chains a chance to compete.

The committee, due to report this month, has said the future for such outlets is "very bleak indeed" unless action is taken to curb the power of Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons. The committee is expected to highlight figures, which show that small shops have closed at a rate of 2,000 per year for the past five years.

MPs are also expected to highlight Tesco's alleged predatory pricing and flouting of planning limits on the size of new stores.

Tesco, meanwhile has disputed the allegations, and has said that the "convenience store" was indeed growing, with franchise chains such as Spar and Londis doing well.

The committee, however, has said that reports that independent shops would be a thing of the past by 2015 were exaggerated but action was needed to redress the imbalance between retailing giants and smaller entities.

Tesco has told the committee that it hopes to double the number of its own small stores to 1,200 in 10 years.
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