The 10 biggest business stories on Wednesday January 6

North Korea hydrogen bomb test weighs on Asian stocks; European Central Bank to keep rates low until March 2017; John Lewis sales rose over the Christmas period

1. Most Asian stocks fell on Wednesday after reports that North Korea has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.2 per cent and South Korea's Kospi slid 0.7 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1 per cent.

2. Mainland Chinese shares rallied, recovering from some of the losses made earlier this week. The Shanghai Composite index was up 1.8 per cent to 3,348.22.

3. Chinese conglomerate Wanda will invest $2.3 billion (£1.5 billion) in hospital developments around the country the property and investment firm said in a statement on Wednesday. The project is the first to be managed and operated by Britain's International Hospitals Group (IHG), the statement said.

4. The European Central Bank will keep rates low until at least March 2017 and beyond if necessary, ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet said in a magazine interview published on Wednesday.

5. John Lewis Partnership, owner of Britain’s biggest department store chain and the upmarket grocer Waitrose, said total sales across the group rose 4.1 per cent to £1.81 billion in the six weeks to January 2 thanks to relatively strong Christmas trading. At John Lewis, the department store arm was the better performer with gross sales up 6.9 per cent to £951.3 million.

6. The UK is the third best place in Europe to look for work, according to research published by online jobs site Glassdoor.

7. Card Factory has appointed Karen Hubbard as chief executive with effect from February 22, to succeed Richard Hayes who will leave the Group at the end of June.

8. Nikkei reports Apple is to cut production of iPhone 6 in South Korea and Japan by 30 per cent during the third quarter because of excess stocks. Apple’s share price dropped by 2.8 per cent.

9. Twitter may soon get rid of its 140 character limit and allow its users to write as much as 10,000 characters in a single tweet

10. Sony’s PlayStation 4 was one of the most-wanted gifts this Christmas. The company revealed that it sold 5.7 million PS4 units during the holiday season, bringing the total to 35.9 million units sold since launch.