WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has hit fresh three-and-a-half-year lows amid growing confidence in the US economy.
At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the Australian dollar was trading at 87.81 US cents, down from 88.15 cents on Friday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open flat after a mixed performance on Wall Street in its last session.
At 0645 AEDT on Monday, the March share price index futures contract was down two points at 5,265.
ELSEWHERE:
DUBLIN - Moody's has raised Ireland's sovereign debt rating, pulling it out of junk territory to an investment-grade Baa3 in recognition of the eurozone country's exit from a huge EU-IMF rescue program.
FRANKFURT - Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, says it is pulling out of the process for the daily fixing of gold and silver prices.
SAN FRANCISCO - US chip giant Intel says it will trim its workforce by five per cent this year as it shifts from personal computers to powering mobile gadgets.
JOHANNESBURG - The main trade union for South Africa's platinum miners has called a strike over pay at sites run by the three top world producers of the precious metal.
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia, an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries kingpin, is unconcerned by the US shale oil boom, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said as he met the US energy secretary in Riyadh.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras' government has given Britain's BG Group a four-year environmental licence for an oil and gas block in the country's Caribbean region.
ABU DHABI - Etihad Airways says it has flown a Boeing 777 plane on a 45-minute demonstration flight powered in part by biofuel developed in collaboration with French firm Total.
SHANGHAI - Shanghai's mayor has pledged to make major progress this year on key financial reforms in the city's new free-trade zone (FTZ) including full convertibility of China's currency.
SEOUL - The personal data of at least 20 million bank and credit card users in South Korea has been leaked, state regulators say, in one of the country's biggest ever breaches.
NEW YORK - General Electric Co says its net income rose five per cent in the fourth quarter on rising profits from the sale of aircraft engines, oil and gas drilling equipment and appliances.
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