Oil prices retreated in Asia Wednesday after a key measure of manufacturing in China fell to its lowest level in more than six years, signalling weaker demand in the world's top energy consumer.

The prospects of weaker demand come as the oversupplied global oil market is already troubled by expectations Iranian crude will return within months if Tehran is found to have complied with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Britain's finance minister George Osborne called Tuesday for closer business ties with China as he visited its commercial hub of Shanghai, despite slowing growth and stock market volatility in the world's second-largest economy.

Osborne, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, visited the Shanghai stock exchange, which has seen its benchmark index plummet nearly 40 percent since June as a bubble bursts, while worries over flagging Chinese growth have shaken world markets.

Shares in Volkswagen plunged further on Tuesday as the German auto giant faced fast-spreading worldwide investigations and a potentially huge financial hit from the snowballing scandal about cheating U.S. pollution tests.

VW shares shed as much as 5.3 percent to hit an intraday low 126.60 euros in the first hour of trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange, after already sinking 17.14 percent the day before.

Oil prices fell in Asia Tuesday, reversing sharp gains in the previous session, hit by a strong dollar and persistent concerns over a global supply glut.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery, which expires at the end of the trading day, eased 58 cents to $46.10 in afternoon trade after spiking 4.1 percent at its close in New York on Monday.

Weary Greece braced for more painful austerity Monday as left-wing prime minister-elect Alexis Tsipras worked on forming a coalition to drive through unpopular reforms agreed with the nation's international creditors.

Tsipras was expected to accept his mandate at 1500 GMT Monday after meeting with the head of the Independent Greeks (ANEL), the nationalist party returning to the government after serving in the previous coalition with his Syriza party.

France opened a business development office in Tehran on Monday seeking to renew once-strong economic ties with Iran after the July 14 nuclear deal in the face of "fierce competition".

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll and Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl inaugurated the "Business France" office on a visit with some 150 business leaders that is to run until Wednesday.

Iran plans to buy Airbus and Boeing passenger planes through long-term payment agreements once a nuclear accord with world powers is implemented, the transport minister said.

Iran desperately wants to upgrade its ageing fleet, which has been hamstrung by nuclear-related and other sanctions, making even spare parts precariously difficult to source.

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The early confidence produced by the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates last week turned to fear on Monday as traders took the bank's dovish outlook as a sign of weakness in the global economy.

Most high-yielding -- or riskier -- currencies, which enjoyed healthy rallies last week, retreated as investors moved back into safer assets such as the yen.

Oil prices rebounded in Asia Monday but analysts said they remain weighed by a crude oversupply and fresh worries about the world economy after the Federal Reserve decided last week against raising interest rates.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October, which expires on Tuesday, rose 52 cents to $45.20 and Brent crude for November was up 51 cents at $47.98 a barrel in afternoon trade.