China has for the first time overtaken the United States as Australia's largest source of foreign investment, according to official data, laying out Aus$27.7 billion (U.S.$21.8 billion) in 2013-14 as real estate purchases more than doubled.

The Asian economic giant's spending in Australia for the year ending June 30, 2014 far outstripped the Aus$17.5 billion from the United States -- which was the biggest investor for more than a decade -- and Canada's Aus$15.4 billion, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) said in its annual report.

The European Central Bank said Thursday that its raft of different policy measures appears to have banished the spectre of deflation in the 19-country eurozone, where long-term inflation expectations are moving up again.

"After having reached low levels in mid-January, longer-term inflation expectations in the euro area have recovered. The decline observed over the previous two years has thus come to a halt," the ECB wrote in its latest economic bulletin. 

The dollar sank against the euro Wednesday after worse-than-expected data showed the U.S. economy nearly stalled in the first quarter, clouding expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

The early morning report from the Commerce Department sent the dollar tumbling against the 19-nation currency, at one point hitting a two-month low.

Moody's downgraded Greece's debt further into junk territory Wednesday, citing "high uncertainty" that Athens can reach a new agreement with official creditors in time to make upcoming debt payments.

Moody's cut the rating one notch to Caa2, just two steps above the level signaling that a default is imminent, and left the country on "negative outlook" for another possible downgrade.

The Bank of Japan held off more easing measures after a policy meeting Thursday, despite flatlining inflation that is defying a two-year-old stimulus, but analysts expect further loosening as the economy struggles.

In a widely expected decision, the central bank stood pat on its record easy money program, which is adding about 80 trillion yen ($672 billion) to the money supply every year in a bid to jack up prices and kickstart growth.

The World Bank sharply cut its outlook for war-torn Ukraine Wednesday, forecasting its economy will shrink by a massive 7.5 percent this year due to the conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

The international lender lowered its 2015 economic outlook from its previous estimate of a 2.3 percent contraction.

British bank Barclays said Wednesday that first-quarter profits halved after taking another £800 million ($1.2 billion, 1.1 billion euros) provision mostly for costs over its alleged role in foreign exchange market rigging.

Net profit or earnings after taxation sank 52 percent to £465 million in the three months to the end of March compared with a year earlier, Barclays said in a results statement.

The dollar softened in Asia Wednesday on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will delay an interest rate hike following fresh data pointing to slowing growth in the world's biggest economy, analysts said. 

The greenback fell to 118.83 yen in afternoon trade from 118.88 yen in New York, while it is sharply down from the 119.10 yen earlier Tuesday in Asia.

President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he will announce economic reform measures this week, as Venezuela grapples with severe inflation, shortages and other woes.

The heir to the late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez said he wanted to "win the economic war along the path of socialism".

A new Greek expert team, tasked with negotiating with the country's creditors, met Tuesday to draw up a series of reforms aimed at finally reaching a deal with the EU and the IMF.

The "political negotiation team" of experts, led by the Dutch-born economics professor and junior foreign minister Euclid Tsakalotos, met late in the evening "to devise reform proposals," the finance ministry said in a statement.