Thailand's biggest foreign investor, Japan, said Friday it would offer support to its firms in the kingdom as concerns grow that the death of its revered monarch could derail the economy.

Japan has more than 4,000 companies operating in Thailand, dubbed the "Detroit of Southeast Asia" due to the huge number of auto manufacturing plants.

The European rejection of a "progressive" trade pact with Canada would send the wrong message to the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Thursday.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Thursday that U.S. banks had confirmed to him they would move some activities out of Brexit Britain to other European countries.

Apple's new iPhone 7 series gave Taiwan microchip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) a boost Thursday as the firm announced profits were up by almost a third compared with last year.

The EU misspent 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) in 2015, the bloc's financial watchdog said Thursday, warning that Brussels needed to regain the trust of European citizens shaken by Brexit and other crises. 

Badly spent funds went on paying overcharged personnel costs for developing cloud computing services, it said.

Britain's stock market scored a record high Tuesday as share prices were boosted by the weak pound, which lifts exporters, and a recent bounce in oil prices.

Egypt has invited tenders to meet its refined oil products needs for October after Saudi Aramco halted the expected delivery of 700,000 tonnes for this month, the petroleum ministry said on Tuesday.

The move by the Saudi oil giant was a surprise as Riyadh has been one of the main regional backers of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and had agreed to finance Egyptian imports from Aramco for five years in a $23 billion deal reached in April.

Saudi Arabia's state-run energy giant Saudi Aramco is optimistic 2018 will be the right time for its IPO in what will likely be the biggest share offering in history, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Amin Nasser confirmed that around five percent of Saudi Aramco's share capital is expected to be sold in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) but emphasized the final decision lay with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Samsung Electronics plunged eight percent Tuesday after it called an unprecedented halt to sales of its troubled Galaxy Note 7 handset, while most regional markets struggled to maintain an early energy-fueled rally.

The world's biggest smartphone maker dragged Seoul's KOSPI down 1.2 percent after it told customers to stop using their Galaxy Note 7 devices and called a halt to worldwide sales, as US officials warned the phones could blow up.

Brazil's lower house on Monday approved a proposal to cap public spending increases for 20 years, a key component of new President Michel Temer's economic recovery program.