More than 1,200 business titans united Wednesday to warn against Britain breaking with the EU, as rivals scrambled for the last votes on the eve of a tightly fought referendum that will shape Europe's future.

Profit at Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz fell 17 percent in the second quarter as cold weather hit sales of its spring clothes and a strong dollar increased its costs.

The central bank has increased the limit of the low-cost Export Development Fund for apparel exporters to $20 million from existing $15 million.

Japan fell into a trade deficit in May, the first since January, the finance ministry said Monday, as renewed yen strength pressured exports.

The naira plunged against the US dollar on Monday after Nigeria's government scrapped its fixed exchange rate and allowed market forces to determine the currency's value.

Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's new economic team on Monday promised sweeping changes to boost infrastructure, fix traffic woes, improve investment frameworks and maintain the country's robust economic growth.

Ten winners of the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday warned that leaving the European Union would "create major uncertainty" over Britain as a trading nation and inflicting lasting economic damage.

Gold fell on Monday after polls showed the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union regaining some momentum, sharpening appetite for assets seen as higher risk and sparking a sharp rally in stocks.

With three days to go until Britain holds a referendum on its European Union membership, voters have the chance to reflect on key arguments made by both sides about immigration, the cost of belonging to the EU, and security.

CHINESE President Xi Jinping drummed up investment and trade with Poland on Monday as the European Union's largest eastern economy eyes financing by the Asian giant.

GREECE'S latest austerity measures are choking off one of its few sources of local private investment, the funds management industry, thanks to massive tax hikes buried in 7,500 pages of financial reforms approved by the parliament last month.

India Monday announced a sweeping relaxation of foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in civil aviation, defence and a string of other sectors as part of efforts to open up the economy.

Embattled German auto giant Volkswagen will face the wrath of its shareholders at its annual meeting on Wednesday as it struggles to steer itself out of an unprecedented engine-rigging scandal.

The pound has jumped the most against the dollar in more than 7 years, as traders reassessed the likelihood of the UK leaving the European Union.

A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced a former bank official to six years in jail for two separate cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission over misappropriating about Tk 9 lakh of depositors' money.

Iran is gradually restoring banking links with the rest of the world by forging ties with smaller foreign institutions, even though large global banks are still holding back because of legal risks, Iranian officials and foreign bankers say.

A major underground marketplace acting like an eBay for criminals is selling access to more than 70,000 compromised servers allowing buyers to carry out widespread cyber-attacks around the world, security experts said on Wednesday.

The world's biggest banks including Citi and Goldman Sachs will draft in senior traders to work through the night following Britain's referendum on EU membership, set to be among the most volatile 24 hours for markets in a quarter of a century.

British Finance Minister George Osborne, battling to keep the country in the EU, warned voters that he will take new austerity measures if they decide to leave the bloc in next week's referendum.

The US government's development finance institution has launched operations in Myanmar with a $250 million loan to a telecoms company, it said on Wednesday.