WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has soared to new heights as the greenback loses ground for a third straight day.
At 0700 AEDT on Friday, the local unit was trading at 76.67 US cents, up from 76.47 cents on Thursday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open lower after a flat performance on Wall Street amid subdue trade, despite some fund managers snapping up stocks ahead of the end of the end of March and the quarter.
At 0645 AEDT on Friday, the share price index was down 13 points at 5,053.
ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON - More Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but the number of applications still stayed near historic lows that point to a stable job market.
LONDON - Britain's current account deficit has surged to a record high, underscoring a weak spot in an economy that is coming under sharper focus before a vote on whether to remain in the European Union.
LONDON - The British government has ruled out nationalising the steel industry to tackle the threat of thousands of job losses, after the prime minister admitted there were no guarantees of resolving the current crisis.
PARIS - Monaco's government is joining British investigators in unpicking "a vast corruption scandal" implicating an unspecified number of foreign oil companies.
BRASILIA - Brazilian prosecutors have charged Joseph Safra, ranked as the world's richest banker, in connection with an alleged scheme to pay bribes to government officials in return for waiving up to $US500 million ($A652.02 million) in corporate tax debts.
BRUSSELS/KUALA LUMPUR - Luxembourg's state prosecutor launched a judicial inquiry into allegations of money laundering, covering payments totalling hundreds of millions of dollars, against Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
LONDON - GlaxoSmithKline says it will adopt a graduated approach to patenting its medicines, depending on the wealth of different countries, in order to make drugs more affordable in the developing world.
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