The European Central Bank, meeting in Cyprus on Thursday, is set to update its economic forecasts and reveal details of its new bond purchase program, analysts said.

Greece will also be high on the agenda of the ECB's decision-making governing council, following the recent eurozone deal to extend aid to the debt-wracked country, the experts said.

The IMF on Wednesday ruled out a fresh bail-out for Sri Lanka, which had hoped to secure loans of more than $4.0 billion to restructure expensive debt taken on by the previous regime.

Much of the country's post-war infrastructure under the administration of former president Mahinda Rajapakse was funded with Chinese debt and the new government had hoped to retire some of those loans.

French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday his government would find 4 billion euros in "new savings" this year to meet demands from Brussels. 

"If Brussels asks for 4 billion more to respect our obligations in reducing the public deficit, they will be found with new savings," said Hollande in an interview with daily Le Parisien.

South Korea's Finance Minister Choi Kyung-Hwan voiced deflation concerns Wednesday after inflation last month hit its lowest level in more than 15 years, despite record low interest rates.

"Concerns about deflation are worrying due to a prolonged period of low inflation," Choi was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as telling a forum in Seoul.

Oil prices were mixed in Asia Wednesday ahead of the release of a key U.S. supply report and as dealers eyed escalating violence in crude producer Libya, analysts said.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April delivery gained two cents to $50.54 while Brent crude for April fell 29 cents to $60.73 in afternoon trade.

Bulldozers push earth and dredgers spit mud round the clock at Egypt's Suez Canal in a race to quickly expand the strategic waterway for two-way traffic, a project trumpeted by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to revive both the country's damaged economy and visions of nationalist glory.

The government's goal of more than doubling annual canal revenues to some $13 billion in less than a decade, however, appears overly ambitious. Although more vessels will be drawn to the canal because there will be almost no wait time, any major increase depends on something unlikely to happen soon, analysts and shippers say — a large jump in European demand fueling greater shipping from Asia.

South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum on nuclear cooperation during a visit by President Park Geun-Hye that began Tuesday, official media said.

The two sides reached a "memorandum of understanding in the field of nuclear cooperation programs," a partnership in research and skills development, the state Saudi Press Agency said.

Dubai's no-frills carrier flydubai said Tuesday that 2014 net profit rose 12.3 percent to $68 million (60.7 million euros), as it expanded its routes and number of flights. 

Revenues at state-owned flydubai hit 4.4 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion), up 19.1 percent, a statement said.

Cash-strapped France, desperate to cut its budget deficit in line with EU rules, said Tuesday it was selling part of its stake in defense group Safran for 1.0 billion euros.

Paris offloaded 16.5 million shares in the group, representing 3.96 percent of the firm's capital, the economy and finance ministries said in a statement.

Barclays fell into a net loss last year, the British bank said Tuesday, hit by huge costs linked to its alleged role in the rigging of foreign exchange markets.

Barclays reported a loss after tax of £174 million ($268 million, 239 million euros) for 2014 compared with a net profit of £540 million the previous year.