WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has stabilised after hitting fresh lows overnight, amid growing expectations that the central bank will need to cut rates again.
At 0630 AEDT on Friday, the local currency was trading at 83.83 US cents, up from 83.79 cents on Thursday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open flat after Wall Street fluctuated, not moving far from its previous records after the ECB stopped short of announcing new stimulus measures.
At 0645 AEST on Friday, the December share price index futures contract was up four points at 5,376.
ELSEWHERE:
FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank has announced it is ready to act early next year should the euro area show signs of tipping into deflation and kept its key interest rates at record lows unchanged.
FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank has held its key interest rates unchanged at its regular monthly policy meeting.
LONDON - The Bank of England has left its key interest rate at a record low 0.5 per cent against a backdrop of tepid inflation that is a threat to economic growth.
WASHINGTON - New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits fell last week, keeping to the recent low range that suggests increasing tightness in the labour market, official data released shows.
LONDON - The US dollar rose on Thursday above 120 yen for the first time in more than seven years, boosted by US economic optimism while Japanese stimulus weighed heavily on the yen.
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the central bank and government to take 'tough action' to stop speculation on the rouble after the currency hit new all-time lows this week.
WASHINGTON - Uber says it has raised a fresh $US1.2 billion ($A1.30 billion) in funding, giving the popular ride-sharing startup a reported value of some $US40 billion.
SHANGHAI - US microprocessor maker Intel plans to invest $US1.6 billion ($A1.73 billion) over the next 15 years to upgrade an existing facility in China's western city of Chengdu, the company says.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina - Hundreds of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline's 17,000 US-based employees will lose their jobs by the end of 2015 under the pharmaceutical industry's latest restructuring.
LONDON - Luxury car company Bentley is to spend STG40 million ($A73.01 million) expanding its headquarters in a project that will create 300 jobs.
NEW YORK - US bookseller Barnes & Noble has ended a partnership with Microsoft for its Nook tablet computers, as the retailer prepares a spinoff of the unit.
DUBLIN - Ryanair keeps soaring higher and higher.
PARIS - Airbus will deliver its first new, next-generation long-haul A350-900 plane to Qatar Airways on December 13, the European aerospace giant said on Thursday.
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