INVESTMENT

China on Tuesday urged Libya to protect its investments and said their oil trade benefited both countries, after a Libyan rebel warned that Chinese oil companies could lose out after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

China should diversify its huge foreign exchange reserves into non-financial assets to hedge against risks from a long-term decline in the U.S. dollar, Xia Bin, an academic adviser to the central bank said on Tuesday.

Gold prices were falling steadily late Tuesday in electronic trading as investors took profit from recent gains and bought stocks in expectations that the Federal Reserve will intervene in the bond market to give the anemic U.S. economy a lift.

Over the past three weeks, investors have been rushing into short-term Treasury exchange-traded funds to shield themselves from the roller coaster equity markets.

Electronic trading on the CME Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange continued Tuesday despite the effect of an earthquake that measured 5.8 on the Richter scale.

Gold closed down 1.6 percent as investors ignored mixed economic news to take profits from recent gains and to put their confidence in the head of the U.S. central bank whom they hope will use a speech later this week to signal support for the ailing American economy.

UBS announced cuts of 3,500 employees on Tuesday, mostly in its investment banking division, as the layoff trend continues in the banking industry.

The economic effects of political revolution in Egypt suggests that freedom came with a price.

Here are some of the largest global banks that are planning significant job cuts.

Precious metals fell in early U.S. trading Tuesday, along with Treasuries, as investors appeared set to return to riskier assets like stocks.

The company expects to record a restructuring charge of about 550 million Swiss Francs (U.S. $700 million) in connection with the cuts.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's China unit has received regulatory approval to trade gold futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, it said on Tuesday, becoming the second foreign bank allowed access to the country's gold futures market.

China's factory sector is likely to slow slightly for a second consecutive month in August as sluggish overseas demand saps new orders, HSBC's China Flash PMI indicated Tuesday.

South Korea's sovereign wealth fund said it had reinvested $78 million, around half the dividend it received from its $2 billion investment in Bank of America , back in the U.S. bank's shares this year.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan reaffirmed Beijing was sticking to a prudent monetary policy in remarks published on Monday, and stressed the need for banks to increase support for small firms and the agricultural sector.

China shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell on Monday as investors hammered companies reporting weak or forecast-meeting results, while a late jump in HSBC helped the Hang Seng index offset some of those losses and end higher.

Vice President Joe Biden said on Monday China's leaders did not seek reassurances about the weak U.S. economy, and he called Xi Jinping -- the man expected to take over as China's next president -- pragmatic and strong.

China's crude imports from Russia in July plunged 45 percent from a year earlier to 615,193 tonnes, or 144,870 barrels per day (bpd), the lowest level in several years, customs data showed on Monday.

China has agreed to lend $195 million to Cambodia so it can buy Chinese military helicopters, the latest deal in a flurry of trade and investment between the two countries.

China's top online portal Sina Corp has invested between $30-$40 million in Chinese online video site Tudou Holdings , a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

The price of gold ripped past $1,900 per ounce Monday, boosted by fears of enough wealth-destroying developments to erase any doubts that the world's oldest safe-haven investment is still the world's No. 1 safe-haven investment.