9 July 2012 Last updated at 06:55 ET

Morning business round-up: Spanish borrowing costs rising

What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:

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Spanish and Italian 10-year bond yields have been rising ahead of a summit of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds, which are taken as a strong indicator of the interest rate the government would have to pay to borrow money, rose above 7%, while Italian bond yields rose to 6.1%.

Yields above 7% are considered to be unsustainable in the long term.

Oil and gas production in Norway faces total shutdown after talks over pensions broke down for a third time on Sunday.

Norway's oil industry said it would enforce the lockdown from Tuesday in a bid to force the government to end the current strikes.

Norway's three main unions have been on strike for 15 days.

The Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska faces a rival billionaire in London's High Court on Monday in one of the UK's largest ever commercial disputes.

The dispute is over a $1bn (£650m) stake in Rusal, the world's biggest aluminium producer.

The case was brought against Mr Deripaska by Michael Cherney, who alleges they were business partners, something Mr Deripaska denies.

Mr Cherney claims Mr Deripaska owes him a 13.2% stake in Rusal.

Business headlines

Inflation has eased sharply in China, giving policymakers more room to spur economic growth amidst a global slowdown.

Consumer price rises cooled in June to 2.2% compared with the previous year, China's statistics bureau said.

That is down from 3% in May and is well below the government target of 4%.

North Korea's economy expanded last year because of increased construction and a recovery in agriculture, an official report from South Korea suggests.

The Bank of Korea estimates the North's economy grew by 0.8% in 2011 after contracting 0.5% in 2010.

This is the second time in the past six years North Korea's economy has grown.

However, the secretive state remains one of the world's poorest countries, with chronic food shortages affecting up to two-thirds of the population.

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