China's State-owned oil giants are likely to lose out to global rivals in a race for top energy assets, as they lack experience and hit a protectionist wall, forcing them to settle for smaller, but riskier buys.

The heated competition for next year's civil servant positions - in which 4,000 people might fight for one job - has not scared away job-seekers as the number of applicants is expected to hit a historical high.

Geely Holding Group Co's 10-month effort to buy Volvo from Ford Motor Co may fall apart within days as the companies struggle to agree on intellectual property rights, two people familiar with the talks said.

Allianz SE and American Express Co plan to keep their Industrial Commercial Bank of China Ltd stakes, which have a combined value of about $3.1 billion, past a lockup on the holdings that expired yesterday.

"Achieving a growth rate of 8 percent for the year is basically no problem," said an official with the country's top economic planner, as statistics for September showed improvements in trade, housing sales, manufacturing and car sales.