The British pound bounced back Wednesday ahead of a UK general election, even as a fresh poll predicted Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservatives would win a much smaller majority than previously forecast.

The Maldives is seeking a "diplomatic" solution to restructure its Chinese debt as the small but strategically located atoll nation struggles with repayments, the foreign ministry has said.

Saudi Aramco shares soared 10 percent to the daily limit on their trading debut on the Saudi stock exchange Wednesday, boosting the energy giant's valuation to a massive $1.88 trillion.

Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday but investors are growing nervous at the lack of news on China-US trade talks, with Washington yet to cancel tariffs on a swathe of Chinese goods planned for the weekend.

France's financial markets regulator said Tuesday it had fined US bank Morgan Stanley 20 million euros ($22 million) for market manipulation at the height of the Greek debt crisis.

Wall Street stocks rose back into record territory early Friday following a blowout November jobs report that reassured on the U.S. economy.

Canada lost 71,000 jobs in November, pushing its unemployment rate up to 5.9 percent -- its highest level in more than a year, according to government data released Friday.

The OPEC group of oil producing countries and their allies -- including Russia -- agreed on Friday to a production cut of 500,000 barrels per day in addition to their current agreement.

OPEC countries were to meet again here Friday after they failed to agree on output cuts that could stem price pressure from abundant reserves and weak global economic growth.

As record numbers of Britons are forced to use food banks and homelessness soars, for many people rampant poverty, not Brexit, is the main issue in next week's general election.