The rally in oil prices extended into Asian trade Friday, a day after the main U.S. contract broke $40 for the first time this year on the back of a weak dollar and optimism about output talks due next month.

With confidence growing that the world's biggest crude producers will hammer out some sort of deal to curb output, investors have in recent weeks been piling back into the commodity, which toyed with 13-year lows last month.

The sale of major Australian state-owned infrastructure to private foreign investors will face tougher scrutiny under new rules announced Friday, after a deal involving a Chinese company last year drew criticism.

The new rules will apply from March 31 and ensure that sales of critical infrastructure to private foreign investors will be subject to a formal review by Australia's foreign investment advisory body.

Rising oil prices sent the Russian ruble to its strongest level since the start of the year Thursday, a day before the central bank is expected to hold its key rates steady.

The Russian currency was trading at 68.04 to the dollar after falling to a historic weak point in January. It stood at 82.45 rubles to the dollar on January 20. 

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. have announced that they'll split the assets of a U.S. venture that includes America's biggest oil refinery.

The two companies made the announcement late Wednesday about Motiva Enterprises LLC, which formed in 1998 as a 50-50 venture between both firms.

Dubai's DP World, one of the world's largest port operators, said Thursday that a major acquisition and "robust" growth helped its profit to surge 30.7 percent to $883 million in 2015.

Revenues grew 16.3 percent to $3.97 billion, the company said in a statement.

German airline Lufthansa said Thursday it will resume dividend payments to shareholders after profits soared in 2015, helped by low oil prices, and are set to increase again this year.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said that despite an "emotionally challenging year" due to the Germanwings air crash and the burden of repeated strike action by pilots and cabin crew, "2015 was a good year in economic terms."

Emerging market currencies soared Thursday with the South Korean won rising at its sharpest rate in four years after the Federal Reserve lowered its forecasts for U.S. interest rate hikes this year.

In a statement following the Fed's latest policy meeting, bank boss Janet Yellen cited concerns about the impact on the U.S. economy of recent turmoil in global markets, weakness in China and Europe and the plunge in oil prices.

Argentina's chamber of deputies voted early Wednesday to approve a repayment deal with more holdout creditors, as the nation seeks to finally close the door on 15 years of litigation over its defaulted bonds.

The vote in Argentina's lower chamber of Congress, by 165 to 86, came after some 20 hours of debate, marking a first legislative triumph for the young administration of President Mauricio Macri. 

OPEC members and key oil producers from outside the cartel will meet on April 17 in Doha in a bid to stabilize falling crude prices, Qatar's energy minister said Wednesday.

The meeting was a "follow-up" to last month's talks between Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela when they proposed an accord to freeze oil output at January levels, said Mohammed al-Sada, the current OPEC president.

British finance minister George Osborne will unveil Wednesday his annual budget, with more austerity pain as the global economic outlook darkens, but will pledge more cash for education and infrastructure.

Most economists believe Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne will likely avoid any major shocks, with three months to go until Britons vote on EU membership in a crucial referendum.