Shanghai stocks managed to lead a regional advance on Wednesday as more Chinese figures indicating weakness in the world's number two economy spurred hopes Beijing will unveil more measures to spur growth.

The broadly positive mood on trading floors also helped emerging currencies recover slightly against the dollar after rallying since Friday's U.S. jobs data ramped up expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this year.

Air links between Russia and Egypt will be cut for at least several months after last month's air crash in which 224 died, the Kremlin's chief of staff said Tuesday.

"It's for a long time. For how long, I can't say, but I think for several months, at least," the Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov told journalists in Helsinki, quoted by Interfax news agency.

France's economy minister said on Tuesday that his country's economy is "lacklustre" and will probably remain so in 2016.

The French economy is still on track to grow by between 1 and 1.2 percent in 2015, he told Europe 1 radio.

The dollar edged lower on Tuesday, taking a breather from its strengthening pace after last week's blockbuster U.S. jobs report that firmed the case for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase this year.

High-yielding emerging market currencies were mixed against the greenback after suffering big losses on speculation over U.S. rate moves.

Oil prices edged up Tuesday after retreating the previous day but gains were tempered by long-running worries about a supply glut and a weak global economic outlook.

The black gold retreated Monday after a weekend report from China, the world's second biggest economy and number-one energy use, showed exports and imports -- particularly of crude --tumbled last month.

China will seek to push its own vision of an Asia-Pacific trade pact at a regional summit next week, senior officials said Tuesday, just weeks after the release of a rival U.S.-led deal that pointedly excludes the Asian giant.

Beijing sought to promote the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which it hosted.

Eurozone finance ministers were set to withhold two billion euros from Greece's huge bailout at a meeting on Monday, European sources said, as tensions resurfaced just months after Athens narrowly avoided a euro exit.

Athens has failed to meet strict reform commitments, with differences over foreclosure rules as the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insists on protections for low-income homeowners, officials said.

The United Arab Emirates Air Force announced Monday a $1.27-billion deal with Swedish defense giant Saab to purchase two surveillance planes and upgrade two others.

The two new aircraft are Global 6000 surveillance planes, while the old planes to be upgraded are part of the UAE's fleet of Saab 340s, said Major General Abdullah al-Hashimi at a joint press conference at the Dubai Airshow.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it "may well be on the verge of a significant oil find" in the Lake Chad area, which has been blighted by Boko Haram-related violence. 

"There are signs from the latest 3D seismic studies that oil may well be very close to being found now in Lake Chad after very many years of trials," added group managing director Ibe Kachikwu. 

Low global oil prices will have a "correction" in 2016, but it won't be solely OPEC that helps to raise prices that have dropped over 50 percent, the United Arab Emirates' energy minister said Monday.

The oil-rich Emirates will raise daily production to 3.5 million barrels in the coming years, Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei said at the start of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.