| * Korea crisis: investors hold their nerve * Apple bars China app for 'illegal' content * Turkey nears decision on $20bn nuclear deal * Hungary aims to boost bank lending with zero rates * Egypt expects IMF loan agreement in two weeks * Hyundai plunges 5 per cent on recall * India: another drug row goes to court * Russia's bank chief warns on economy * India's Rahul Gandhi bemuses with "beehive" speech to business leaders Markets: mostly down Korea crisis: investors hold their nerve
The South Korean stock market fell sharply on Thursday in response to the latest escalation in tensions with Pyongyang - and the won lost ground on the foreign exchange markets. So investors are worried about the risk of war, right? Actually, no. Given the scale of the danger – nuclear annihiliation – the markets have responded remarkably calmly to Kim Jong-eun's threats.
http://on.ft.com/17e89Vg Apple bars China app for 'illegal' content
Apple has removed at least one online application from the China App Store because it provides access to books that are banned by the Chinese government, according to the developer of the app.
http://on.ft.com/17ewHgO Turkey nears decision on $20bn nuclear deal
Turkey is in the final stages of deciding a showpiece nuclear power tender, with the choice resting between Japan and China.The project, expected to be worth more than $20bn, has taken longer than expected to decide, with Turkey's insistence on financial guarantees from the contactors or their home nations proving a key point of discussion.
http://on.ft.com/ZaQwF3 Hungary aims to boost bank lending with zero rates
Hungary's new central bank president Gyorgy Matolcsy has unveiled a new lending plan which allows banks to borrow at zero per cent from the central bank.
http://on.ft.com/10tMeW4 Egypt expects IMF loan agreement in two weeks
Egypt's planning minister said on Thursday the government expects to reach a final agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $4.8 billion loan within two weeks, the state news agency MENA reported.
http://reut.rs/17emZuR Hyundai plunges 5 per cent on recall
A huge recall announcement on Thursday has come at a difficult time for Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors.
http://on.ft.com/10tK60h India: another drug row goes to court
India's lawyers will be licking their lips. Just days after the Supreme Court denied the multinational pharmaceuticals group, Novartis, patent protection for its cancer drug, the country's judges have another case on their hands.
http://on.ft.com/10oM8yV Russia's bank chief warns on economy
A sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first two months of 2013 is "causing serious concerns", according to the outgoing head of Russia's central bank, who said he "did not exclude" lowering interest rates if inflation targets were met.
http://on.ft.com/14P8RZx India's Rahul Gandhi bemuses with "beehive" speech to business leaders
Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and a contender for prime minister in 2014, on Thursday offered a broad vision of 21st century India in his first major speech to business leaders that critics called vague and rambling.
http://reut.rs/10cycIq Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index down -0.56% at 1,019 Europe
FTSE down -0.01% at 6,420
RTS up +0.19% at 1,429
Warsaw Wig up +0.18% at 44,683
FTSE 300 Eurotop up +0.06% at 1,194 Americas
DJIA down -0.76% at 14,550
S&P 500 down -1.05% at 1,554
Bovespa up +1.23% at 55,563 Asia
Nikkei 225 up +2.20% at 12,635
Topix up +2.70% at 1,038
Hang Seng down -0.14% at 22,337
Shanghai Composite down -0.11% at 2,225
MSCI Asia ex-Japan down -0.72% at 472.19
S&P CNX Nifty Index down -1.73% at 5,575 Currencies
€/$ 1.28 (1.28)
$/¥ 95.51 (92.93) Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.17 at 107.28
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.05 at 94.40
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -11.00 at 1,542 | 
