VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A surprisingly aggressive dose of monetary stimulus from Sweden's central bank on Thursday injected life back into world markets which had been numbed by the stalemate in talks between Greece and its euro zone creditors.

Greece's new leftist government and its international creditors failed to agree on a way forward on the country's unpopular bailout and will try again on Monday, with time running out for a financing deal.

The S&P 500 index finished unchanged on Wednesday as investors were reluctant to make big bets while they waited for the outcomes of major talks involving Greece and Ukraine, but Apple helped boost the Nasdaq after an activist investor's bullish comments.

Asian stock markets turned cautious on Wednesday while the U.S. dollar crept higher as looming euro zone meetings to discuss the Greek debt crisis threatened to produce more confusion than clarity.

Asian stock markets were subdued on Wednesday while major currencies barely budged as looming euro zone meetings to discuss the Greek debt crisis overshadowed a firmer finish on Wall Street.

Commodity price-dependent currencies such as the Australian dollar and Norwegian crown were the main movers on major foreign exchange markets on Tuesday, gaining up to a third of a percent on talk of more economic stimulus in China.

Asian equities slipped on Tuesday as nervousness over Greece potentially withdrawing from the euro and escalating conflict in Ukraine sapped risk appetite, while the dollar lost steam after its payrolls-inspired rally.

Group of 20 finance officials look likely to reject a proposal to set countries specific investment targets to spur a global economy which appears increasingly reliant on the United States for growth.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday as investors worried about Greek debt negotiations and disappointing Chinese economic data on top of uncertainty about U.S. interest rates.

The Obama administration is pushing euro zone leaders to compromise more with Greece's new government as fears grow that a protracted budget stand-off could damage the global economy, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

If Greece is forced out of the euro zone, other countries will inevitably follow and the currency bloc will collapse, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Sunday, in comments which drew a rebuke from Italy.

European stocks dipped and low-rated bond yields rose on Monday after dismal Chinese trade data and signs of increasingly fraught relations between Greece and its international creditors kept investors cautious.

British bank HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) admitted on Sunday failings by its Swiss subsidiary, in response to media reports it helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets.

Greece said on Saturday it had no short-term cash problem and that it will hand its European Union partners a comprehensive plan next week for managing the transition to a new debt deal.

Greece's new leftist-led government, isolated in the euro zone and under pressure from the European Central Bank, said on Friday it wanted no more bailout money with strings attached from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.