CHINA

Three detained Chinese employees of Australian miner Rio Tinto appeared healthy and calm, their defense lawyers said on Wednesday after visiting their clients for the first time early this week.

Asian stocks edged up on Wednesday but hovered near three-week lows hit the previous day, with investors cautious ahead of Chinese bank results and wary that profit taking will continue to stall a six-month rally.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Tuesday it hired banking veteran Brad Cameron to head its Canadian mergers and acquisitions team, the latest sign a capital markets pick-up may be in the making in Canada.

China could still increase its holdings of US Treasuries if the dollar is stable, even though the long-term trajectory is to diversify its foreign exchange reserves, according to a former central bank governor.

General Motor is to wrap up its Hummer deal with China's Tengzhong at the end of September, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday.

Russia's Evraz Group has abandoned plans to acquire control of Chinese steel maker Delong Holdings Ltd after a $1.5 billion option to raise its stake to 51 percent lapsed on Tuesday, the company said.

Australia and China struck their biggest trade deal on Tuesday, as the world's two most valuable listed oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp and PetroChina , reached a $41 billion liquefied natural gas agreement.

Sinopec Group, China's largest oil refiner, has completed its $7.56 billion acquisition of Swiss oil explorer Addax Petroleum Corp., which has a large presence in West Africa, marking China's biggest foreign takeover to date.

Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive of top bond fund manager PIMCO, on Tuesday said the rally in U.S. stocks had topped out because valuations have shot up too quickly.

China Everbright Securities' 30 percent rise on its Shanghai debut, subdued by China standards, suggests investor demand may be cooling after previous soaraway debuts fuelled concerns over price bubbles.

South Korea is counting down to its first space launch on Wednesday that will likely open the door to its nascent rocket program and rile neighbor North Korea, hit by U.N. sanctions after its own rocket launch in April.

Japan looked headed for historic change as the official campaign kicked off on Tuesday for an August 30 election expected to end more than half a century rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Voters in Japan flocked to rallies on Tuesday as official campaigning began in an election that is expected to see Prime Minister Taro Aso's party ousted for only the second time in its 54-year history.

A rich asking price could once again sink AIG's plan to sell its Taiwan insurance unit after an attempt at a sale earlier this year met a similar fate.

Poised for Recovery, Big Gas Deal, Stocks Hit Wall

Don't blame global stock markets for being skittish. It is August, after all, a month that has spelled trouble in the past two years.

Australia and China struck their biggest trade deal ever on Tuesday as the world's two most valuable listed oil companies, Exxon Mobil and PetroChina , agreed a $41 billion liquefied natural gas deal.

World stocks and commodity prices recovered on Tuesday from the previous session's sell-off, which was prompted by concerns over the pace of global recovery, while the Japanese yen and safe-haven U.S. government bonds eased.

Asian shares clawed their way back from early lows on Tuesday following wild swings in Shanghai, as investors worried whether more bouts of profit taking will spell the end of the bull market that emerged from the financial crisis.

Asian stocks and the Australian dollar edged higher on Tuesday but shares in Shanghai were highly volatile, keeping nerves frayed about whether another bout of profit taking would hit global markets.

Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday, following Shanghai shares into the red and keeping nerves frayed about whether further profit taking will end the bull market that emerged from the financial crisis.