The European Union urged China on Wednesday to make "concrete progress" in opening its markets to global investment, after Chinese President Xi Jinping decried protectionism in a speech at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Indonesia is interested in pursuing a bilateral economic partnership with the United States after the world's biggest economy abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord, an Indonesian official said on Wednesday.

Japan is cool to the notion of inviting China to join a pan-Pacific trade pact abandoned by US President Donald Trump, fearing such a step would boost Beijing's clout and water down what was meant to be the 'gold standard' for rules of trade.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced Wednesday a $5.0 billion share buyback even though competition from generics ate away at sales and earnings last year.

Taiwan's economy notched up its best performance in almost two years in the final quarter of 2016, with strong demand for electronics offsetting a plunge in mainland tourists, according to official data released Wednesday.

China's record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in December, and the doubling in spot Asian prices in the past six months, appear to contradict the prevailing market view that supply is overwhelming demand for the super-chilled fuel.

India's sugar production may fall to 21.3 million tonnes for the 2016/17 crop year, the lowest in seven years and 9 percent lower than previously forecast, as drought has curtailed cane supplies in key producing states, a trade body said on Wednesday.

India pushed ahead with its decision to scrap banknotes even as the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) own board expressed concern whether the cash could be replaced quickly enough, the central bank has said in written testimony to parliament.

HSBC has begun cutting around 100 senior jobs in its investment banking division worldwide this week, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings Friday and lifted its 2017 sales forecast, due in part to strong demand for health products.

A Samsung probe into the exploding batteries that forced the electronics giant to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones has found irregularly sized batteries caused overheating, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

JAPAN is threatening to take India to the WTO over restrictions that nearly halved its steel exports to the South Asian nation over the past year, a step that could trigger more trade spats as global tensions over steel and other commodities run high.

JAPAN'S Toshiba Corp has begun preparations to sell a minority stake in its core chip business, people with knowledge of the matter said, as it urgently seeks funding to avoid being crippled by an upcoming multibillion-dollar writedown.

The new US administration of President Donald Trump said on Friday its trade strategy to protect American jobs would start with withdrawal from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Saturday to seek compromises on issues like trade and military spending with US President Donald Trump, adding she would work on preserving the important relationship between Europe and the United States.

US bankers, buoyed by a resurgence in profits, are advising their counterparts in Europe to think positively about the new administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

India's biggest lender by assets, State Bank of India, could tap capital markets next fiscal year to raise up to $1.5 billion, its chief said on Friday, though it first needs to complete a planned merger with its subsidiary banks.

Bangladeshi investors want to build five-star and three-star hotels in Kolkata, said Matlub Ahmad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

Apple Inc filed a $1 billion lawsuit against supplier Qualcomm Inc on Friday, days after the US government accused the chip maker of resorting to anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly over key semiconductors in mobile phones.

The dollar ended down while US stock indexes rose in the last day of a choppy trading week, as investors reacted to President Donald