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World Business Quick Take

■ Economy
China now ranks fourth
China has squeaked by the UK by the tiniest of margins to become the world's fourth-largest economy, according to the World Bank's latest calculations. The World Bank said that by its official measure, China produced US$2.263825 trillion in output last year. That was just US$94 million, or 0.004 percent, more than the UK. China overtook the UK last year based on each country's GDP converted into US dollars at current exchange rates. But the bank's widely watched ranking measures gross national income converted into dollars using the "Atlas" method of currency conversion, which smooths out exchange rate fluctuations by using a three-year average. Gross national income comprises GDP plus net inflows of income such as rents, profits and salaries from abroad. The US, Japan and Germany remain the world's first, second and third-largest economies, according to the bank.

■ Finance
Beijing to ease broker rules
China will allow brokerages to offer financing services to investors, Beijing said, part of a campaign by market regulators to breathe life into the country's long ailing stock exchanges. The decision to let investors take out loans to buy shares, announced over the weekend, is expected to help draw a share of the country's US$4 trillion in bank deposits into the markets as major share offerings hit the market -- including a 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) initial public offering by Bank of China (中國銀行), the country's biggest ever. The bank, the country's second-biggest lender, was due to begin trading tomorrow on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Other major firms, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (上海汽車工業) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (中國工商銀行) are expected to follow within months. The move to allow share purchases "on margin" is aimed at luring leery investors back, helping to boost the markets' role in corporate fundraising.

■ Trade
Complaint filed in Seoul
Two US technology firms have filed a complaint with South Korea's antitrust watchdog accusing US mobile phone chip developer Qualcomm of abusing its market dominance, officials said yesterday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the complaint was lodged by Texas Instruments and Broadcom. "Qualcomm was accused of selling its handset chips bundled with other chip products by using its market dominance," an FTC official said. Qualcomm has monopoly market status in South Korea as the sole supplier of handset chips using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. Texas Instruments and Broadcom claimed that Qualcomm is blocking their entry into the South Korean market by bundling multi-media chips with its CDMA chips, Yonhap news agency said. Last year, six firms filed a complaint with the EU, accusing Qualcomm of collecting excessive royalty fees. South Korean firms have also accused the firm of selling mobile phone chips bundled with other software, prompting regulators to raid its office in Seoul in April.

■ Breweries
APB to build in India
Singapore-listed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), producer of Tiger Beer brand, will build a brewery in India's Andhra Pradesh state as part of the company's push into the region. APB is teaming up with India's Jaipuria Group, one of the country's largest soft drinks producers, to set up the US$15-million brewery, it said.

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