Morning business round-up: Spain bailout fears ease

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

Spain's implied cost of borrowing has dropped to its lowest level in six months, easing fears that the troubled nation will need an imminent bailout.

Earlier, the yield on the Spanish 10-year bond dropped to 5.54%, the lowest since April.

In July, the bonds surged to more than 7% - levels that had prompted bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Spain's situation continues to worry investors, with many of its regions asking for aid.

The nation's stock market gained, up 1.9%, while other European stock indexes showed smaller gains.

Elsewhere in Europe, the German government has slashed its forecast for economic growth in 2013 from 1.6% to 1%.

"We are still talking about 1% growth [for 2013], so there's no talk about a crisis for Germany," said Economy Minister Philipp Roesler.

The Economy Ministry also raised its forecast for 2012 to 0.8% from the 0.7% it predicted in April.

And in the UK, the number of people out of work fell by 50,000 to 2.53 million in the three months to August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Employment reached a record high of almost 30 million, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.9%.

The UK has been in recession, but many economists expect third-quarter figures to show a return to growth.

In Asian economic news, Thailand's central bank has unexpectedly cut interest rates in an effort to boost domestic demand and sustain growth.

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) cut its key lending rate to 2.75% from 3%.

There have been fears that the global economic slowdown may hurt demand for the country's exports and harm its economic growth.

However, some analysts criticised the move, saying that lower borrowing costs might spur a rise in consumer prices.

At the same time, the Thai authorities have raised 41.6bn baht ($1.4bn; £840m) from the long-awaited auction of the country's third generation (3G) telecommunications network.

Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) sold nine licences to the country's three leading telecom firms.

The move is likely to help these firms provide more services to smartphone users and boost revenues.

Thailand lags behind its neighbours in implementing 3G technology. Its 3G auction has taken place nearly a decade after Japan first implemented its 3G network.

In company news, Coca-Cola, the world's biggest soft-drinks maker, has warned that it expects slower growth in China amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

The firm said its sales rose 2% in China during the third quarter, as it reported its earnings for the period.

That is down from 7% growth in the country during the previous three months.

China is one of the world's fastest growing consumer markets and has been a key driver of the firm's growth.

The latest Business Daily podcast from the BBC World Service asks the question: after Libor rate-rigging, could the setting of oil prices also be open to manipulation?