WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has drifted higher in quiet overnight trade, with very little news or market events to give traders direction.
At 0630 AEDT on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 89.44 US cents, up from 89.35 cents on Monday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open slightly higher following a mixed performance on Wall Street ahead of new Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen's first testimony to Congress.
At 0645 AEDT on Tuesday, the March share price index futures contract was up six points at 5,175.
ELSEWHERE:
PARIS - Growth is strengthening in most advanced economies, the OECD says, while emerging economies are mostly keeping on trend despite significant headwinds.
MILAN - A 0.9-per cent slump in Italy's industrial production in December following three months of consecutive increases has disappointed investors and cast a shadow over hopes for a recovery this year.
NEW YORK - Google has passed Exxon to become the second most valuable US company by market capitalisation.
NEW YORK - Activist investor Carl Icahn is backing off his proposal that Apple spend $50 billion buying back its own stock during the current fiscal year that ends in September.
LONDON - Barclays has unveiled mixed annual earnings, as the British bank seeks to fend off fresh financial strains following the Libor rate-rigging scandal.
NEW YORK - McDonald's says bad weather hurt its US sales performance in January, representing another setback as the fast-food chain fights to fend off rivals and get its menu right.
PARIS - L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics company, says its net profit rose by 3.2 per cent last year to 2.96 billion euros ($A4.53 billion) on sales which rose by 2.3 per cent to 22.98 billion euros.
HELSINKI - Nokia Corp says it has settled all pending patent litigation with HTC.
NEW YORK - US retail giant Costco plans to open its first stores in Spain this year because of the Iberian nation's "great potential" for growth, a company official says.
