The Wall Street Journal

Worsening traffic congestion is likely to spur more Chinese cities to introduce policies that may hit car sales, according to a UBS research report released Tuesday.

The analysts said policy restrictions were the main risk to car sales, with growth in demand for private vehicles expected to halve to 7 percent between 2013 and 2015 under a worst-case scenario.

The UBS analysts said car sales in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guiyang have declined by 30 percent to 50 percent after those cities had earlier applied restrictions on purchases of private vehicles.

In addition to easing traffic, restrictions on vehicular purchases through measures, such as number plate auctions, were likely to boost revenue for local governments and generate a new source of funding for their infrastructure projects.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Business confidence in Australia has risen sharply following financial crisis lows of the month before, the National Australia Bank's monthly business survey shows.

Meanwhile, Australia China Business Perceptions Survey, released Tuesday, found that 69 percent of Australian businesses operating in China were optimistic about the country's economy, while 66 percent had a positive outlook of their own organization's performance within it.

Federal trade minister Craig Emerson welcomed the results of the survey, saying that "China's shift to a consumer-driven growth model is creating huge demand for a range of high-value Australian goods and services, as well as our traditional commodity exports."