Cyprus announced Friday an immediate halt to flights by its national carrier, spelling its demise, after EU regulators ordered Nicosia to recover illegal state aid granted to the holiday island's ailing airline.

Cyprus Airways ticket-holders will be offered alternative arrangements, the government of the small recession-hit EU member state said.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in December, the lowest level in six and a half years, as the country capped its best year for job creation since 1999.

In a fresh sign that the United States is creating more distance with the weakness in Europe and elsewhere, the Commerce Department said Friday that the economy churned out 252,000 jobs last month.

Oil prices fell Friday with analysts predicting further pressure on the market owing to a glut of global supplies and weak demand.

Markets were awaiting a U.S. jobs report due Friday, with forecasts for another sharp rise in new positions giving the Federal Reserve more ammunition to lift interest rates.

German automakers BMW, Daimler and Volkwagen said Friday their leading brands attained record sales in 2014, driven by rising demand in all regions.

Top-of-the-range maker BMW said in a statement it delivered more than two million vehicles to customers last year, "the company's fourth record year in a row."

The euro recovered some losses against the dollar in Asia Friday after slipping below $1.800 for the first time in more than nine years, while traders await the release of U.S. jobs figures later in the day.

In Tokyo, the single currency rose to $1.1808 from $1.1754 in New York. The last time it was below $1.800 was December 2005. It weakened to 140.89 yen Friday from 141.15 yen in U.S. trade.

Switzerland's central bank on Friday said it expected record profits of 38 billion Swiss francs (31.6 billion euros) in 2014 on the back of gains from its foreign currency holding.

The bank said it would make a profit of 34 billion Swiss francs ($33 billion) from its foreign currency holdings and four billion Swiss francs from its gold holdings, according to provisional estimates.

Oil prices rose in Asia on Friday after recent heavy falls, but analysts said any gains are likely to be limited by plentiful global supplies.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was up 43 cents at $49.22 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude for February gained 34 cents to $51.30.

Turkey is planning to buy four more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the US, in addition to the two it had already ordered, the country's defense industry agency said.

"It has been agreed that four more F-35 planes will be procured in addition to the two previously ordered as part of a plan to buy a total of 100 new generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters," the defense industry executive committee (SSM) said in a statement posted on its website.

Standard Chartered said Thursday it would close a swathe of its global equities business and axe 2,000 jobs around the world this year as it tries to make savings of $400 million as part of a structural overhaul.

The Asia-focused British bank said it had already announced or completed 2,000 job cuts in its retail clients business in the past three months, but 2,000 more were "expected during 2015" in the same segment.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker, flagged a lighter than expected profit decline in the fourth quarter Thursday, with memory chip sales cushioning a continued slump in mobile revenue.

Operating profit for the October-December period was estimated at 5.2 trillion won ($4.7 billion), down 37.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013, the company said.