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The streets in London’s Kensington and Chelsea district have the most expensive properties in England and Wales, research has shown.

Driven by robust global demand, tenth consecutive monthly current account surplus is set to take South Korea’s 2009 surplus to more than US$43 billion, the central bank said Tuesday.

Unemployment in the UK is likely to peak at 2.8 million in 2010, latest forecast from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or CIPD showed Monday. This is better than 3.2 million predicted in its mid-2009 forecast.

Singapore’s manufactured products price index grew 1.4% year-on-year in November, in contrast to the 8.3% decline in the previous month, the Department of Statistics reported on Tuesday. The oil index rose by 25.6%, while the non-oil index slid 4.6%.

Revised third quarter gross domestic product results from France and retail sales figures from Spain are the highlights for Tuesday.

Visitor arrivals into Singapore grew 8.4% year-on-year in November to 830,000, Singapore Tourism Board reported on Monday.

Spain’s budget deficit for the first 11 months of the year ballooned to 6.79% of gross domestic product or EUR 71.52 billion, which is five times last year’s shortfall of EUR 13.96 billion, as a result of plummetting tax revenues combined with the various fiscal stimulus and employment related initiatives introduced by the government, the Ministry of Economy said in a statement on Monday.

The Bank of Israel on Monday raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%, against expectations for the 1.00% rate to be retained. This marks the second straight month in which the central bank has hiked the key interest rate.

Hong Kong is scheduled to release retail sales data for November on Tuesday, headlining a very light day for Asian economic news.

Employees in the UK are expected to see another tough year in 2010, the British Chambers of Commerce warned Monday. A monthly survey of 260 companies revealed that 63% of businesses are planning wage freezes or pay cuts next year, while 18% are considering the removal of benefits, such as bonuses and gym membership.