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.

State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines plans to launch a low-cost offshoot next year under initiatives to restructure the kingdom's oil-dependent economy, official media said on Monday.

Ratings agency Moody's on Monday downgraded its outlook for South Korea's banking system from stable to negative, predicting a deterioration in creditworthiness over the next year.

Europe's main stock markets sank at the start of trade on Monday, with sentiment hit hard by failed Doha talks and the subsequent slump in oil prices.

Oil plunged Monday a day after top producers failed to reach a deal in Doha to cap output, fanning fresh fears over a supply glut that has plagued the market.

Prices had rebounded last week on hopes the OPEC exporters' club and other major players, including Russia, would agree to freeze output levels at Sunday's meeting.

Thousands of Kuwait's oil workers began an open-ended strike on Sunday in protest at plans to cut their wages, action which saw the emirate's crude production plunge.

A spokesman for the Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC), Saad al-Azemi, said on Twitter that "average production reached 1.1 million" barrels in Kuwait on Sunday.

Argentina seeks to end 15 years of financial isolation on Monday when it sets out to borrow cash on international credit markets for the first time since a 2001 default.

The country is looking to boost its struggling economy and settle a 15-year lawsuit by US investment funds which its ex-president Cristina Kirchner branded "vultures."

Major oil producers began talks in Qatar on Sunday to try to reach a deal on capping production to boost prices, despite Iran's absence.

Cuban President Raul Castro vowed Saturday never to pursue "privatizing formulas" or "shock therapy," setting the tone for a Communist Party congress convened to review progress in revamping the island's Soviet-style economy.

"Cuba will never permit the application of so-called shock therapies, which are frequently applied to the detriment of society's most humble classes," he said in a speech opening the congress, which only happens every five years and stretches on for several days.