Major European and Saudi banks have stopped dealing with Sudan, diplomatic and other sources say, adding to the sanctions-hit country's isolation and further straining its indebted, cash-starved economy.

While Khartoum blames increased "pressure" from a U.S. trade embargo first imposed 17 years ago, a U.S. official said there had been no change in policy from Washington.

Asian markets extended the week's losses on Friday, following a heavy sell-off in New York and Europe in reaction to another batch of poor Chinese data and flaring tensions in Ukraine.

Traders scurried into lower-risk assets such as the yen owing to growing economic uncertainty and geopolitical fears.

The German central bank or Bundesbank clocked up profit of 4.6 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in 2013, all of which would be transferred to government coffers, it said on Thursday.

"The Deutsche Bundesbank posted profit to 4.6 billion euros in 2013 after 664 million euros a year earlier, which, according to Bundesbank law, was transferred in full to the federal government," the central bank said in a statement.

The maker of the addictive mobile game Candy Crush hopes to raise as much as $532.8 million in a New York IPO that would value the company at up to $7.6 billion.

King Digital Entertainment, the British developer behind the hit game, filed new documents on its much-awaited initial public offering that showed plans to sell 22.2 million shares at between $21 and $24 a share.

New Zealand on Thursday became first advanced economy to raise interest rates since 2012, ending a three-year freeze imposed after the devastating Christchurch earthquake.

In a widely anticipated move, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted the official cash rate (OCR) 0.25 points to 2.75 percent and said it planned more hikes in an economy that was growing with "considerable momentum".

The United States, with its abundant supplies of natural gas, would seem to have an easy answer to Europe's fears that a strong response to Russia's rapid takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region could prompt Vladimir Putin to shut down gas lines that keep European homes warm, factories humming and electricity flowing.

Trouble is: Right now there's no way to get meaningful American supplies across the Atlantic Ocean.

Thailand reduced its official interest rate to the lowest level in three years on Wednesday to boost the economy in the face of a protracted political crisis.

The Bank of Thailand lowered its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.00 percent -- a level last seen in January 2011.

Spanish consumer prices crept barely higher in February, official data showed Wednesday, as deflationary concerns dogged sluggish eurozone economies.

Prices climbed at an annual rate of just 0.1 percent in February after edging up by 0.3 percent in January, according to Spain's National Statistics Institute.

Indian budget airline SpiceJet has placed an order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX planes in a deal worth $4.4 billion, the companies announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Delivery of the single-aisle planes will begin from 2017 as the cash-strapped SpiceJet seeks to win new customers in the vast but fiercely competitive Indian market.

Media and entertainment giant Disney is in talks to buy Maker Studios, one of the largest content providers for online video sharing website YouTube, a report said Tuesday.

Specialist website Re/code cited "people familiar with the negotiations" and said the transaction would value Maker Studios at $500 million or more.