Morning business round-up: Germany backs EU rescue fund

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

Germany's top court has rejected calls to block the permanent eurozone rescue fund - the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - and the European fiscal treaty.

But the Constitutional Court imposed conditions including a cap on Germany's contribution, which it said could only be overruled by the German parliament.

The euro rose in value as the markets reacted with relief to the decision.

Meanwhile, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has set out plans for a single supervisory mechanism for all banks in the eurozone.

He called the plans a "quantum leap... the stepping stone to the banking union".

The European Central Bank would get much greater powers of oversight and regulation of Europe's 6,000 banks under the plan.

Mr Barroso said eurozone countries should not rely on bailouts from the ECB, saying the bank "cannot and will not finance governments".

Media caption,

Biz Heads

And the eurozone crisis is dominating concerns in the Netherlands, where voters are going to the polls to elect a new government.

The result is expected to be a close contest between the centre-right VVD Liberal party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the centre-left Labour Party.

Mr Rutte wants to bring down the Netherlands' deficit and stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure.

Labour's Diederik Samsom is promoting spending on job-creation programmes.

India's industrial output was flat in July, adding to fears the country's economic growth spurt is over.

The data, from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed output at factories, mines and utilities rose by 0.1%, a far better performance than the shrinkage of 1.8% in June.

The improvement came after a recovery in production of some consumer goods.

It was, however, below expectations of growth of 0.3%.

In the UK, the number of people out of work fell by 7,000 to 2.59 million in the three months to July, compared with the previous three month period.

The unemployment rate was 8.1%, down 0.1% on the previous quarter.

The number out of work for more than a year was 904,000, the highest since 1996, official figures showed.

Finally, China's electronics maker Haier has launched a takeover bid for New Zealand's Fisher & Paykel in a bid to boost its global presence.

Haier has offered NZ$869m ($710m; £440m), or NZ$1.20 per share, for the 80% stake in the firm that it doesn't already own.

That is a 60% premium on Fisher & Paykel's closing price on 7 September.

Haier has been looking to boost growth amid a slowdown in global demand and increasing competition.

The BBC's Business Daily radio show on the World Service looks at the big splurge on US election campaign spending for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

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