The United States and Japan are making "great progress" on trade talks, but "much" of the negotiations will wait until after Japanese elections in July, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday.

"Great progress being made in our Trade Negotiations with Japan. Agriculture and beef heavily in play. Much will wait until after their July elections where I anticipate big numbers!" Trump wrote, referring to upper house elections in Japan this summer.

French carmaker Renault is in talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with the long-term prize a world-leading alliance including Japan's Nissan and Mitsubishi, reports say.

The British pound wobbled Friday following Prime Minister Theresa May's widely-expected resignation, while stock markets mostly rebounded as U.S. President Donald Trump offered an "olive branch" to China in their trade war, dealers said.

Chinese financial regulators on Friday took over a bank based in the northern Inner Mongolian region because of its "serious credit risk". 

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman will boycott Russia's annual showcase economic forum in Saint Petersburg next month over the prosecution of a top American investor, the embassy said Friday.

The increasingly fractious trade row between China and the United States was the main focus of Asian investor angst Friday, with most markets down to extend the previous day's steep losses, though oil edged back from a painful sell-off.

The United States on Thursday unveiled a new $16 billion aid package to help farmers caught in the crossfire of President Donald Trump's trade war with China.

Oil prices slumped more than four percent Thursday on growing trade tensions, which have deepened over the US blackballing Chinese telecom giant Huawei. 

Societe Generale de Banque au Liban announced Thursday that it has won the award for Most Active Issuing bank in Trade Finance in Lebanon for 2018 granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD Trade Facilitation Program (TFP) honored its most successful partner banks in 2018 during a special award ceremony on the eve of the Bank’s Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Sarajevo. Through this special award ceremony, EBRD recognized special achievements in trade finance by partner banks.

Asian equities tumbled Thursday as China-US trade frictions continue to dog investors, while the pound hit a fresh four-month low on Brexit worries and energy firms were battered by plunging oil prices.