Some Chinese banks have cut or stopped discounts on mortgages to first-time home buyers in China, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Wednesday, citing unnamed bank sources.

The troika of Portugal's international lenders--the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank--may decide to ease Portugal's deficit target for 2012 to 5% of the gross domestic product, reports Diario Economico in its Wednesday Internet edition, citing a

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, while Japan's Renesas Electronics soared after a management change.

The total value of construction in Australia during the second quarter of 2012, including building and engineering work, fell 0.2% from the first quarter to 48.83 billion Australian dollars ($50.62 billion), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

Hong Kong stocks slipped Wednesday morning as opening gains evaporated amid weakness in resource shares and some mainland Chinese property names.

Sime Darby Bhd. (4197.KU), the world's largest listed palm-oil producer by acreage, Wednesday said its plantation business weighed on its fiscal fourth-quarter net profit, which fell 16.2%. Net profit for the three months ended June 30 was 1.10 billion ringgit ($353.2 million) compared with MYR1.31

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is reducing the size of the project team working on scaled-back plans for the expansion of its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia, with roughly 140 employees facing transfer or lay off.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is reducing the size of the project team working on scaled-back plans for the expansion of its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia, with roughly 140 employees facing transfer or lay off.

Australia's largest gold miner by market value, Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM.AU), said Wednesday it has resumed operations at its Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea after a dispute with a local landowner group closed the site Sunday.