Toyota increases hiring in Japan

Toyota is hiring 800 contract workers in Japan, its first increase in jobs in more than a year.

The Japanese carmaker said this was due to higher demand for its Prius petrol-electric hybrid in Japan.

Toyota now employs 1,300 contract workers in Japan, who are distinct from the 70,000 full-time workers that have guaranteed lifetime employment.

Toyota, struggling with the global downturn in auto sales, had stopped employing contractors last June.

The majority start work next month at its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan, which makes the Prius and other models for the Japanese market.

The Prius, launched in 1997, is now in its third generation. By the end of April, Toyota had sold 1,028,000 of the cars worldwide, more than half of them in North America.

At its peak in 2005, Toyota employed over 11,600 contract workers - who are hired for fixed periods of employment.

Gold returns back above $1,000

The price of gold has touched $1,000 an ounce for the first time in six months.

The move could be seen as a sign that investors believe the worst of the global recession is over and are worried about inflation.

Others who are less convinced about the strength of the recovery are moving into gold, which is usually sought as a haven from economic turmoil.

Gold - seen as an attractive investment in times of inflation - has risen 13.6% in value this year.

'Uncertainty'

The US dollar - which often moves in the opposite direction to gold - has been declining during that same time.

"Gold's rising price is due to uncertainty all the way from personal investors right through to institutions," said Sandra Close, an analyst at Surbiton Associates."There are questions out there over the health of economies, where interest rates are going. All that encourages gold hoarding," she said.

Gold reached an all-time record of $1,032 an ounce in March 2008.

The commodity is measured and sold in troy ounces. One troy ounce equals 31.1035 grams or 480 grains. One troy ounce is equal to 1.09711 avoirdupois ounce - those widely used to measure weights in the US and UK.

Gold has risen for each of the past eight years.

Oil rises in Asian trade on improved sentiment

The analysts are of the view that the oil extended its reach in Asian trade on Tuesday to lift in the part by improved investor capacity about the global economy's recovery prospects in the markets.

Oil extended its rise in Asian trade on Tuesday, lifted in part by improved investor sentiment about the global economy's recovery prospects, analysts said.


Comments by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia that the market was "very stable and healthy" were also seen providing support to prices, they said.


New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery firmed 20 cents to USD 68.22 a barrel.


Brent North Sea crude for October delivery put on 37 cents to USD 66.90.
"With growth picking up in virtually every country, a self-reinforcing process or positive feedback loop' is developing," analysts from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a report.


"Growth in individual countries is stimulating global growth, via trade and confidence channels. This adds to our confidence in the sustainability of the recovery."
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on arriving in Vienna on Monday ahead of a meeting of the OPEC crude cartel that current oil price levels were satisfactory.


"The market is in very good shape: very well-supplied," Naimi told reporters. "The price is good for everybody, consumer (and) producer," hovering recently between 68 and 73 dollars per barrel, he added.


He reiterated the view of several fellow OPEC ministers that further cuts to oil production quotas were unlikely and said Wednesday night's meeting would seek to enforce compliance with existing reductions "as best we can.