A British vote to leave the European Union on June 23 would hurt the economy, an overwhelming majority of economists said in a Reuters poll, and could push the Bank of England to cut interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis.

Chinese exports surged in March, the first gain in nine months and the latest positive data out of the world's number two economy, but analysts warned Wednesday's headline figure masked ongoing weakness in overseas demand.

India's Tata Steel and Germany's Thyssenkrupp are in talks about a joint venture among the options being considered for their European steel operations, Germany's Rheinische Post said on Wednesday.

Oil prices slipped on Monday over worries that the result of next Sunday's meeting of producers in Qatar aimed at freezing current output levels would fail to improve the current supply-demand balance.

More than half of Indian jewellers reopened their shops on Monday after keeping them closed for nearly six weeks in protest over the reintroduction of excise duty on gold jewellery.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) launched a technology business on Monday which aims to create apps for services such as car-sharing, the latest automaker to explore ways of tapping demand for cheaper and greener ways of making short journeys.

China's economic slowdown will hit growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific from this year until at least 2018, the World Bank said Monday, warning of volatile global markets and urging caution.

Planned changes that President Barack Obama says are aimed at ensuring American companies do not avoid tax by shifting their headquarters overseas could also force foreign companies to adopt more conservative US tax-planning strategies.

CHINA'S consumer inflation was steady at 2.3 percent year-on-year in March, official data showed Monday, a sign of stabilisation for the world's second-largest economy.

China's online censorship system protects national security and does not discriminate against foreign companies, the country's internet regulator said, after the United States labelled the blocking of websites by Beijing a trade barrier.

Growth is seen easing off in major advanced economies, the OECD said on Monday, with the outlook continuing to deteriorate in the United States and Britain while the German economy is losing steam.

Scanning a bank statement into a computer may not sound particularly high-tech, but it's unsettling some of Asia's private bankers.

Ride-sharing company Uber has agreed to pay $10m (£7m) to settle a dispute over its background checks for drivers.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi King Salman agreed to set up a $16-billion investment fund Saturday and settled a long-standing maritime dispute as the monarch continued his rare visit to the country.

Sporadic violence erupted as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of French cities on Saturday in the latest protests against labour reforms seen as threatening workers' rights.

Nigeria's financial capital Lagos is running on fumes again.

The gender pay gap in the United States is widest in rural states and smallest in urban areas, a Congressional report said on Friday.

Iran is exporting around 350,000 barrels of crude oil a day to India and hopes to increase this number, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Saturday after meeting Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Italian government revised down its growth forecast for 2016 on Friday but swore the gloomy figures would not lead have an impact on the country's budget.

With the world economy entering a more uncertain phase and the top central banks sounding ever more cautious, attention may turn in the coming week to signs of whether years of aggressive stimulus have yielded any significant rise in inflation.