Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called Thursday for G20 economies to adopt more ambitious growth targets, urging leaders not to "waste each other's time" with a talk-fest.

Abbott told more than 380 business leaders from the grouping attending a two-day B20 summit in Sydney that the world's economies were still "in the shadow of the (financial) crisis" and "action, not words" was needed to boost growth.

Oil prices extended gains in Asia Thursday after a bullish U.S. stockpiles report raised hopes of resurgent demand in the world's top crude consumer, analysts said. 

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose 24 cents to $101.44 while Brent crude for September gained two cents to $107.19 in afternoon trade. 

A key shareholder in stricken Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES) has failed to repay a huge debt, putting the banking group at risk of legal action, the unpaid creditor Portugal Telecom said on Wednesday.

Holding company Rioforte, a main shareholder in BES, failed to repay 847 million euros ($1.15 billion) by a deadline on Tuesday, PT said.

Britain's unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent in the quarter to the end of May, hitting the lowest level for more than five years, official data showed on Wednesday.

The rate for the March-May period compares with 6.6 percent for the three months to the end of April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Business leaders from the G20 major economies called Wednesday for free flows of trade, capital and jobs to boost growth, but avoided addressing the controversial global issues of profit-shifting and climate change.

More than 380 international business chiefs are set to attend the B20 summit in Sydney on Thursday and Friday before presenting their growth strategies to the G20 presidency, which is chaired by Australia this year.

Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging powers hold a summit Wednesday with South American presidents, bringing together nations seeking alternatives to U.S. influence in the region.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold talks in the Brazilian capital with counterparts from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and other Latin American nations.

The price of oil paused Tuesday after tumbling last week as a deteriorating security situation in Libya raised questions over the restoration of exports following an agreement between the government and a regional militia.

Prices fell sharply last week as worries about supply disruptions from Iraq eased and on the prospect of more supplies from Libya. Weaker than expected economic data for the first half of the year prompted the International Energy Agency and other experts to trim their forecasts for short and medium term demand.

China's bank lending picked up in June from May, the central bank said Tuesday, as authorities accelerated infrastructure investment to boost the flagging economy, but analysts warned of a possible debt bubble.

Domestic banks granted 1.08 trillion yuan ($174 billion) in new loans for June, up from 870.8 billion yuan a month earlier, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.

As Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba expands beyond online retail, it is shaking up staid state banks -- and drawing regulators' attentions -- after 100 million customers poured more than $90 billion into its investment product.

Alibaba, which is preparing for a multi-billion-dollar stock offer on the New York Stock Exchange that could rival Facebook's flotation, has already transformed the retail and logistics sectors in China.

Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging powers meet Tuesday to launch a new development bank and a reserve fund seen as counterweights to Western-led financial institutions.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hosts the leaders of Russia, India, China and South Africa in Fortaleza on Tuesday before talks with South American leaders the next day in Brasilia.