WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is flat amid divergent pressures from iron ore and oil prices.
At 0630 AEST on Friday, the local unit was trading at 73.21 US cents, nearly unchanged from 73.20 cents on Thursday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open lower after a mixed overnight session on Wall Street.
At 0645 AEST on Friday, the share price futures index was down 11 points at 5,358.
ELSEWHERE:
LONDON - The Bank of England says Britain's economy will slow sharply, even falling into recession, if the country votes to leave the European Union, and that there are limits to what the bank could do about it.
LONDON - Demand for gold has spiked by a record 21 per cent in the first three months of the year.
WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level in more than a year, raising further concerns about the health of the labour market in the wake of a slowdown in job gains in April.
NEW YORK - The United Nations has cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2016 by half a percentage point to 2.4 per cent, largely due to downward revisions for Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Latin America.
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency has published the first US regulations to reduce methane emissions from new or modified oil and gas facilities, one of the key remaining pieces of the Obama administration's climate change strategy.
WASHINGTON - Long-term US mortgage rates have fallen this week for a third straight week, posting new lows for the year.
LONDON - Countries from Britain to Afghanistan have pledged to set up public registers of company ownership in a collective effort to make it harder to launder the proceeds of corruption around the globe.
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