WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has squeezed higher despite big losses in world stocks and plunging oil prices.
At 0630 AEDT on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 68.94 US cents, up from 68.64 cents on Wednesday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open lower after international markets fell deeply into the red as oil prices continued to plummet.
At 0645 AEDT on Thursday, the share price index was down 19 points at 4,783.
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ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON - US consumer prices unexpectedly fell in December as the cost of energy goods dropped and services rose moderately, a trend that if sustained suggests inflation could be slow to rise toward the Federal Reserve's target.
WASHINGTON - US builders started fewer homes in December, but prior gains meant that residential construction ended 2015 at its healthiest level in eight years.
LONDON - Eleven major banks, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, UBS and HSBC, say they have tested a system that could make trading much faster and cheaper, using the technology that underpins crypto-currency bitcoin.
ATHENS - Greece's state privatisation fund says it has approved an offer from China's Cosco group to buy a 67 per cent stake in the country's largest port in a process initially opposed by the left-wing government.
DJIBOUTI - Djibouti's president has signed agreements with China to set up a trade zone and establishing a legal framework to let Chinese banks operate in the tiny Horn of Africa nation, the latest move to deepen ties with Beijing.
LA PAZ, Bolivia - Chinese state-owned steelmaker Sinosteel Equipment has been awarded a contract for processing the output from El Mutun, Bolivia's largest iron ore mine.
LONDON - Nestle has lost a long-running court battle to trademark the four-finger shape of its KitKat chocolate bar in Britain.
