The coming week will go a long way to dictating whether Greece remains in the euro zone. A meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday is tasked with producing a deal that will keep Greece solvent and which is acceptable to both sides.
Australia
Breaking News
Asian stocks and the euro fell on Thursday as markets erred on the side of caution over the ongoing Greek debt negotiations amid conflicting headlines on progress in the talks.
Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.
The British government plans to introduce a law before May forcing tobacco firms to sell cigarettes in plain packets without branding in England, ending years of debate and lobbying.
Asian shares held near eight-week highs on Thursday as investors bet on the likely size and scope of a bond-buying program the European Central Bank is poised to unveil later in the day in an attempt to revive the flagging euro zone economy.
Asian stocks mostly edged up on Thursday after a significant rebound in oil and copper prices brought a semblance of calm, while the dollar regained ground lost on disappointing U.S. retail sales.
The euro hit a nine-year trough on Wednesday as collapsing oil prices and worries about the world economy drove skittish investors into the arms of safe-haven sovereign debt.
Australia's Hoyts Group said on Tuesday it has been sold by its private equity owner Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) to an investment vehicle set up by Chinese entrepreneur Sun Xishuang.
Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial plans to raise its full takeover offer for Australia's Transfield Services Ltd, daily financial newspaper Expansion reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
Standard Chartered (STAN.L) has agreed to sell its Hong Kong-based consumer finance business to a consortium that includes Pepper Australia Pty Ltd and a Chinese group, in a deal estimated between $600 million to $700 million, two people with knowledge of the deal said.
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are amassing vast copper holdings in a push to capture a greater chunk of the $140 billion world market, apparently aiming to squeeze out high-cost producers just as they did in the global iron ore business.
Australia is experiencing a record-shattering boom in technology listings as start-ups starved of venture capital funding pursue backdoor listings, a trend that has regulators concerned companies are trying to take short cuts to get to market.
Australia is working on new drift modeling to expand the geographical area in which wreckage from missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may come ashore, the Australian search coordinator said on Wednesday.
Australia said on Sunday it would list state-owned health insurer Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX) with a market capitalization of A$5.679 billion ($4.9 billion), exceeding the top end of a range indicated in its IPO filing a month earlier.
Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's largest beef exporter, has agreed to buy Australian processed foods producer Primo Smallgoods for $1.25 billion.
