Bloomberg South African retail stocks slumped, heading for the lowest in almost seven months, after Woolworths Holdings Ltd. said clothing sales fell, adding to similar recent declines reported by local competitors. The eleven-member FTSE/JSE Africa General Retailers Index retreated 4.1 percent in Johannesburg, heading for the lowest level since April 24. Cape Town-based Woolworths tumbled 3.7 percent to 67.68 …

  NEW DELHI / AP Chaotic scenes played out across India on Saturday, with long lines growing even longer and scuffles breaking out, as millions of anxious people tried to change old currency notes that became worthless days earlier when the government demonetized high-value bills. In New Delhi, the capital, angry scuffles broke out after ATMs ran out of bills. …

  ShanghaI / AFP Chinese bank lending almost halved month-on-month in October, official data showed, as Beijing moved to rein in credit risks but with national holidays also an issue. New loans extended by banks fell to 651.3 billion yuan ($95.6 billion) last month, compared with 1.22 trillion yuan in September, said the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central …