International credit agency Standard & Poor's on Wednesday affirmed mining-driven Australia's AAA rating with a stable outlook, but warned about its growing reliance on the Chinese economy.

Australia is one of only a handful of nations to hold the top rating, with its economy growing a solid 0.6 percent in the three months to June and 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday said it will extend its asset-purchasing scheme by 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) to boost the economy, following similar moves by the European and U.S. central banks.

The bank's announcement after a two-day meeting, which also saw interest rates kept at record lows, sent the yen tumbling against the dollar and euro, while the Nikkei surged to a four-month high.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank faces a $400 million budget shortfall, even if current donor pledges are met, the World Bank warned in a report on Wednesday, calling new funding "critical."

The 21-page report, prepared ahead of a meeting of international donors in New York next Monday, also accuses Israel of stifling Palestinian growth by impeding development in the West Bank's Area C, which is under full Israeli control.

President Dilma Rousseff has approved new tax incentives to boost innovation in the information technology and telecommunications sectors, the official Agencia Brasil reported Tuesday.

The measures, published in the Official Gazette, are part of the government's Brasil Maior ("Bigger Brazil") plan unveiled in August 2011 to strengthen the productivity and competitiveness of Brazilian industries.

Investors accepted negative interest rates again to lend money to the EU's bailout fund on Tuesday, according to the German central bank, which managed the issue.

The Bundesbank said in a statement that the European Financial Stability Facility placed 1.941 billion ($2.5 billion) euros' worth of six-month bills at a yield of minus 0.0181 percent, compared with minus 0.0179 percent at the previous auction in August.

World stock markets mostly fell Tuesday as signs that Europe will take longer than expected to set up a new authority to supervise European banks kept investors on the sidelines.

The creation of a European banking union is important to prevent any bank failures from torpedoing the finances of financially weak countries such as Spain or Italy. But a meeting among European finance ministers over the weekend underscored the lack of consensus on the details of such a union.

Fiat will stay in Italy thanks to profits generated abroad, particularly in the United States, the chief executive said Tuesday amid rising angst that it may be preparing to shed jobs in Italy.

"I am trying to profit from the recovery of the American market, exploit it to the maximum, to attain the financial security that would allow me to protect the presence of Fiat in Italy and in Europe at this dramatic moment," Sergio Marchionne told the daily La Repubblica.

The protests that erupted in Cairo over an anti-Islam Internet video have stalled talks on relieving $1 billion worth of Egyptian debt to the United States, the Washington Post reported.

The debt relief was intended to provide crucial economic aid to Egypt's newly elected government as it grapples with daunting economic challenges in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

Oil prices rose in Asia Monday as dealers welcomed the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to kickstart the economy, while tensions in the Middle East also provided support, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October gained 10 cents to $99.10 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for November added 26 cents to $116.92.

The Canadian Auto Workers union will focus on reaching an agreement with Ford as negotiations continue with all of Detroit's Big Three automakers with a strike deadline looming Monday night, the head of the union said.

CAW President Ken Lewenza said Sunday that Ford has shown a willingness to reach an agreement. He said talks with Chrysler and General Motors will continue but high level talks will be focused on Ford. A strike at all three automakers would affect about 20,000 workers and about 16 percent of North American auto production.