WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is back above 93 US cents following soft US economic data.
At 0630 AEST on Friday, the local currency was trading at 93.20 US cents, up from 92.99 cents on Thursday.
And the Australian share market looks set to follow Wall Street and European markets higher after a slew of disappointing economic reports.
At 0645 AEST on Friday, the September share price index futures contract was up 25 points at 5,519.
ELSEWHERE:
MOSCOW - US sanctions against Moscow appeared to have claimed their first major victim when Russia's largest oil company was forced to call on the government to urgently cover its massive debt.
FREETOWN - The Ebola outbreak in west Africa is threatening to take a severe economic toll, as stricken countries remain in lockdown and rush to bolster emergency responses.
WASHINGTON - More people applied for US unemployment benefits last week, although jobless claims continue to be close to pre-recession levels.
WASHINGTON - Average long-term US mortgage rates declined this week, approaching their lows for the year.
BRUSSELS - Eurozone growth ground to a standstill in the second quarter, official data shows, dragged lower by Germany and France, the currency bloc's biggest economies.
MADRID - Spain's government has sparked an outcry by giving oil group Repsol the all-clear to explore for oil and gas off the coast of the tourism-dependent Canary Islands.
NEW YORK - The literary executor of George Orwell's estate is accusing Amazon.com of doublespeak.
NEW YORK - General Electric has confirmed it is considering the sale of its historic appliance division, part of its effort to focus on selling more complex and profitable industrial equipment.
NEW YORK - OmniVision Technologies, a maker of digital imaging chips for smartphones and other devices, says it has received a buyout offer from a group of Chinese investors for some $US1.6 billion ($A1.7 billion).
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