Britain said on Sunday that it wanted to work with Iran's central bank to make it easier for UK banks to finance trade and investment in the country after a thaw in diplomatic relations.

South Korea's dominant Samsung conglomerate will make its first entry into US stock markets next year with the listing of a biotechnology affiliate, a company official said Friday.

The oil market extended its dramatic descent this week to strike a 6.5-year nadir close to $40 per barrel on mounting fears of oversupply and poor demand, particularly from China.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pressed China to continue with economic and financial reforms Friday in the wake of Beijing's surprise devaluation of the yuan last week.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday it had approved a $1 billion loan for energy-rich Kazakhstan after the Central Asian country's currency lost a quarter of its value against the dollar Thursday, spreading panic throughout the region.

Consumer confidence in Germany is being dampened slightly by the enduring wrangle over Greece's debt crisis, a poll found on Friday.

Swatch plans to add to its new smartwatch range, the Swiss watchmaker's chief executive told a newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

GLOBAL stocks have been hit hard over concerns for the Chinese economy, with a gauge of the country's manufacturing activity on Friday providing the latest sign of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

BUSLOADS of visitors from China flocked to Bangkok's glittering Grand Palace on Friday but, days after a bomb at another of the city's popular attractions killed five Chinese tourists, Thailand's biggest spending holidaymakers are rattled.

The European Commission will publish detailed reports on its negotiations with the United States to forge the world's biggest trade pact, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said on Friday, responding to criticism that the talks have been shrouded in secrecy.

Signs China's economic slowdown is deepening and weak growth in Europe and the US reported on Friday further damaged the outlook for the global economy, sending stocks and commodity prices reeling.

Hewlett-Packard Co reported a drop in revenue for the fourth straight quarter, hurt by weak PC sales and lower demand from corporates for its services.

China's economic woes trigger European and Wall Street equity sell-offs and stir up fears for global growth.

Latest data suggests factory activity in China shrank at its fastest pace in more than six years in August.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday that Malaysia's economy was on a sound footing, seeking to assuage growing public and investor fears over the nation's plummeting currency and slowing growth.

China's devaluation of the yuan exposes an undefended flank in the Bank of Japan's efforts to jolt its flagging economy out of decades of deflation, which rely heavily on a solid pick-up in overseas demand.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is stepping up pressure on the RBI to cut rates as the economy struggles and price rises slow, with some bureaucrats working behind the scenes to argue for an immediate cut of as much as 50 basis points.

Adani Group is in talks with Japan's Softbank and Foxconn, maker of Apple's iPhone, to secure investment in a $3 billion project to make solar cells and panels in the country, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, is considering selling its stake in Chinese group Hua Xia Bank and divesting its retail banking activities in India, the business daily Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday.

Greece made a crucial 3.2 billion euro debt repayment on Thursday using newly released bailout funds, a government source said, as a senior minister argued for rapid elections following a rebellion in the ruling party.