European car registrations rise 4.5% in November

European passenger car registration rose to 1,210,860 in EU and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries, according to statistics published by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

It rose 4.5 percent in November, the third month of consecutive growth this year. This follows high demand for Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles in Germany and France.

Car makers bounced back from November last year, when registrations decreased as a result of the introduction of tough anti-emission rules in the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).

The ACEA statistics showed Volkswagen registrations rose to 9.3 percent, while Audi's increased by 39.4 percent and Porsche's by 290 percent.

The 9.7 percent rise in Germany and 0.7 percent in France compensated for Britain's 1.3 percent drop in registrations in Britain.

Chinese car manufacturer BAIC buys 5% of Daimler 

China's Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC) has bought a 5 percent stake in German luxury automotive group Daimler, worth $2.8 billion.

Daimler has held a stake in the Chinese car maker BAIC since 2013 and the investment aimed to strengthen ties, said chairman Xu Heyi.

BAIC felt threatened after Chinese car maker Geely acquired a 9.69 percent stake in Mercedes-Benz-manufacturer Daimler for $9 billion in early 2018.

"BAIC sees Geely as a threat. The joint venture between Daimler and BAIC is the core of the group's business," said John Zeng, managing director of research group LMC Automotive Shanghai.

Pound falls amid talk of hard Brexit

The British pound fell on Tuesday after reports revealed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking a hard Brexit.

The pound dropped 0.7 percent to $1.3236, after hitting a 19-month high of $1.3516 on Friday, following the Conservative Party's general election victory.

"Common sense suggests that crafting a trade deal would take at least more than a year, so markets had assumed that the transition period will be extended," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.

Credit Suisse 'surveillance on another senior executive'

Another senior Credit Suisse executive was investigated this year, according to Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung. It suggests the probe into former wealth management boss Iqbal Khan was not an isolated case, as the bank has instead claimed.

The Swiss paper cited documents and photographs it said documented the surveillance of Peter Goerke, the bank's former human resources head, in February.

The paper said: "The circumstances indicate that it was Credit Suisse that, via a go-between, gave the mandate for this surveillance."

The surveillance effort, known as "project Kuensacht," cost $12,000 and involved four detectives. The objective was to track Goerke's movements, however the reasons behind why he was being followed are unknown.

Credit Suisse stock was indicated down 0.1 percent in pre-market activity.