Saudi Arabia will take a $10 billion loan from foreign banks to help close the gap in its state finances from collapsed oil revenues, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Citing three people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg said it would be the first sovereign loan in at least 15 years to the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter.

Australia Wednesday boosted funding to the corporate regulator by Aus$127.2 million (U.S.$99 million) and appointed a special prosecutor to investigate financial crime, in sweeping reforms prompted by public outrage over numerous bank scandals.

The yen picked up Wednesday as caution returned to markets after oil prices resumed their slide, while traders speculate over the odds of the Bank of Japan unleashing fresh stimulus.

After surging in New York, oil prices turned lower in response to news a strike in major producer Kuwait had been wound up.

Kuwait's state oil firm said Wednesday that it expects to restore full production within three days after staff ended a strike in a surprise about-turn that triggered a renewed slide in world prices.

The walkout by thousands of staff of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. and its subsidiaries on Sunday in a dispute over planned pay cuts had slashed the emirate's output from 3.0 million barrels per day to 1.5 million and prompted a brief rally in world prices.

Iran will not accept an oil output freeze because it would effectively mean a prolonging of sanctions, its oil minister said Tuesday, insisting rival producers caused a supply-led price slide.

Spain has raised its public deficit target this year from 2.8 percent of GDP to 3.6 percent, the economy ministry said Tuesday, meaning it will once again overshoot the limit demanded by Brussels.

A strike by oil workers that has slashed Kuwait's output entered its third day on Tuesday but the state oil firm said it had managed to restore some affected production.

Yahoo is poised to report quarterly earnings Tuesday that could make it tougher to convince buyers the struggling Internet pioneer is worth their interest.

Oil prices recovered in volatile trading on Tuesday as a strike by Kuwaiti petroleum workers entered its third day, outweighing disappointment over the failure of talks to freeze output.

Iran's purchase of 118 Airbus passenger aircraft is in its final stages and the deal could be completed as soon as next week, the French transport minister said Monday in Tehran.

Alain Vidalies told reporters that the contract, initially valued at $25 billion, is subject to approval from the US government's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and talks are planned next week.