*Plunge in Korea, China pulls MSCI Asia ex- Japan down 1.1 pct. TOKYO, April 5- Asian shares hit a three-month low on Friday as concerns over bird flu in China and escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula unsettled investors as they counted down to potentially pivotal U.S. payrolls data out later in the session.
NEW YORK, April 4- If you read just one book this spring to understand how the world is changing, it should be Mohsin Hamid's new novel, "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia." Asia's rise is a story of the eastward tilt of global gross domestic product, but behind those numbers are billions of individual lives that are being radically transformed.
April 4- China's influence in Africa goes so deep that African leaders are starting to shape their own agendas after China's. In welcoming Xi Jinping, China's new president, to South Africa last month for a BRICS conference, Zuma gushed, "We view China's success as a source of hope and inspiration."
NEW YORK, April 4- Mergers and acquisitions activity among developed and emerging markets fell in 2012 with the fewest number of completed deals since the peak of the financial crisis in 2009, a new survey showed on Thursday.
LONDON, April 4- Stronger manufacturing and services output in China helped lift emerging market business confidence in March, masking slower growth in Brazil, Russia and India, a monthly purchasing managers' survey showed.
*Client coverage in Brazil seen up by 50 percent this year. *Lender plans to expand in Colombia, is "bullish" on Brazil.
*MSCI Asia ex- Japan down 0.5 pct, Nikkei rises 1.7 pct. TOKYO, April 3- Asian shares fell on Wednesday as investors waited for news on the U.S. economy, while the dollar recovered against the yen as the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting got underway.
LONDON/ MUMBAI, April 2- Stung by a landmark patent defeat, Western drugmakers will be wary about launching new products in India, but they cannot afford to quit a country tipped to be the world's eighth largest market for medicines by 2016..
LONDON, April 1- The triumph of hope over experience. Though MSCI's China index is languishing 4 percent in the red this year, many fund managers are betting the stars are finally aligned for a lasting turnaround in China's equity index, the biggest in emerging markets.