Greece's anti-austerity government was to begin a European charm offensive Sunday aimed at building consensus on renegotiating its 240-billion-euro ($270 billion) bailout, even as Germany insisted it would not support any debt relief.

Just hours before Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis headed to Paris to seek support for a renegotiation of the bailout, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he believed a deal could be reached with the EU and IMF.

China's housing prices rose in January for the first time in nine months, a survey showed Saturday, breaking a decline that has weighed on growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The average price of a new home in China's 100 major cities rose 0.21 percent from December to 10,564 yuan ($1,690) per square metre, according to the independent China Index Academy, the first rise since April 2014.

Strong earnings from Apple, Boeing and some others were not enough this week to offset Wall Street angst over the strong dollar, crashing oil prices and the Greek election.

U.S. equities finished firmly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 507.65 points (2.87 percent) to 17,164.95.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has met with the head of a powerful Chinese regulator, days after authorities accused the e-commerce giant of allowing "illegal" actions on its multi-billion-dollar online shopping platform.

The meeting Friday between Ma and State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) director Zhang Mao may signal a de-escalation of the dispute, which saw the regulator deliver an unprecedented public dressing-down of the prominent Chinese firm.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday rejected the prospect of debt relief for Athens, adding to tensions between the radical new Greek government and its international creditors.

"There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt," Merkel said in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper published Saturday.

Qatar Airways on Friday said it had purchased almost 10 percent of IAG, parent of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, the second European entry by a Gulf carrier.

"As part of efforts to enhance operations and strengthen existing commercial ties... Qatar Airways has acquired a 9.99 percent stake in IAG," the company said in a statement.

Greece's new anti-austerity government is set to hold its first talks Friday with its eurozone partners about its ambitions to secure a reduction in the massive debts linked to its 240-billion-euro ($269 billion) international bailout.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to meet Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the current head of the eurozone group of finance ministers in an encounter that Athens said would mark the start of Greece's negotiations on revising the conditions of its massive bailout.

The dollar edged down against other major currencies on Friday as investors adjusted their positions ahead of key US economic growth data later in the day.

In Tokyo, the greenback slipped to 117.83 yen, down from 118.34 yen in New York, but still up from 117.70 yen in Asia earlier Thursday.

The war between Israel and Gaza drove the Palestinian economy of Gaza and the West Bank into its first contraction since 2006, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

While the West Bank managed a 4.5 percent expansion last year, Gaza's economic activity declined by about 15 percent, the IMF said, linking it to Israel's harsh bombing and shelling of the Gaza enclave and slow progress on rebuilding.

Iraq cut its 2015 budget Thursday by nearly $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) due to the falling price of oil, on which its government is almost entirely dependent for revenue.

MPs approved a budget of $99.6 billion, down from the $102.5 billion the cabinet proposed last month.