Saudi economic growth is set to slow further in 2016 after the OPEC heavyweight announced record deficits due to the slump in oil prices, an economic report said Wednesday.

Jadwa Investment forecast the Saudi economy would grow by just 1.9 percent next year, down from 3.3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2014.

Oil prices resumed their decline in Asia on Wednesday ahead of the release of data on U.S. crude stockpiles and production.

Prices have been volatile during the holiday-shortened final week of 2015 and remained near multi-year lows in the face of indications a global crude supply glut will continue into next year.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer said Wednesday it had reached an agreement to settle a U.S. criminal investigation into claims that it helped rich Americans dodge taxes.

"Julius Baer has reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with respect to a comprehensive resolution regarding its legacy U.S. cross-border business," said a statement from the Zurich-based bank.

The boss of Beijing-based solar energy firm Hanergy Thin Film Power Group is selling a stake in the company at a massive discount in Hong Kong, as the once high-flying firm faces a continuing regulatory probe.

Hanergy grew more than sixfold to became the world's largest solar power company by market value before dramatically suspending trading in May after its stocks plunged 47 percent.

Saudi shares dived at the start of trading Tuesday a day after the oil-rich kingdom announced a record $98 billion deficit this year and said it was drastically cutting fuel subsidies.

The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) fell by 3.1 percent minutes after opening to 6,777.05 points, close its lowest level this year.

The euro held its gains in thin trading Tuesday, after a European Central Bank (ECB) official hinted at another wave of stimulus, while fears about China's economy dented the yuan.

ECB executive board member Yves Mersch said policymakers have "by no means used up all our ammunition", according to an excerpt from an interview with the International Bankers Forum.

Tokyo's benchmark stock index was flat Tuesday morning, as another slump in oil prices and weak data out of China and Japan reignited concerns about the global economy.

The Japanese market picked up a weak lead from Wall Street, where the main indices ended in the red on Monday following the slide in crude prices.

Saudi Arabia announced a record budget deficit and cuts to fuel and utility subsidies on Monday as the oil powerhouse suffers from the drastic fall in crude prices.

Petrol prices in the kingdom were to rise by more than 50 percent on some products from Tuesday, authorities said, after the world's largest crude exporter said it had posted a deficit of $98 billion in 2015.

The eurozone is not expected to welcome any new members in the coming years, as the region's long crisis seems to have put some countries off, deputy European Commission chief said in a newspaper interview Monday.

"No new members are expected to join in the next few years," Valdis Dombrovskis told the daily Die Welt. 

Tokyo stocks snapped a five-day losing streak in a quiet trading session Monday as bargain-buying and a weaker yen lifted the market in the last trading week of 2015.

The market also got a boost after crude prices jumped last week, bouncing off their lowest point in more than a decade, after data showed that U.S. inventories declined and that drillers have idled rigs.