WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has traded in a narrow range overnight ahead of Thursday's batch of economic news.
At 0630 AEDT on Thursday, the Australian dollar was trading at 92.47 US cents, slightly up from 92.44 cents on Wednesday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open higher following a positive lead from international markets after data showed a pickup in US job creation.
At 0645 AEDT on Thursday, the June share price index futures contract was up 23 points at 5,422.
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ELSEWHERE:
LONDON - The vast earthquake in Chile has sent copper prices jumping to a three-week peak, as traders worried about possible supply problems in the top global producer.
WASHINGTON - International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde has warned that the political crisis around Ukraine poses a danger to the broader world economy.
WASHINGTON - US factory orders have risen after two straight months of declines, the government says in a report, adding to signs of improvement in the manufacturing sector.
WASHINGTON - US businesses added 191,000 jobs in March, returning to the level of job growth seen in December before bad winter weather hit the economy, payrolls firm ADP says.
MADRID - Spain has reported a slide in jobless numbers in March as the economy gingerly recovers from a long, employment-destroying recession.
NEW DELHI - India says it will issue two new bank licences for the first time in a decade as it accelerates a push to bring more Indians into the formal banking system.
NEW YORK - A total of 18 countries have filed documents ratifying a UN treaty to regulate the $US80 billion-($A87 billion)-a-year conventional arms trade.
BERLIN - Germany's antitrust authority has fined a group of brewers 231.2 million euros ($A347.41 million) for their part in alleged illegal beer-price fixing - the second round of punishment in the case.
