Moody's raised Ireland's sovereign debt rating on Friday, pulling it out of junk territory to an investment-grade Baa3 in recognition of the eurozone country's exit from a huge EU-IMF rescue program.

One month after Ireland reclaimed its economic independence, the ratings agency also placed the country on a positive outlook, citing the economy's growth potential and improved debt outlook.

Macau gambling tycoon Lui Che-woo has replaced Hong Kong multi-billionaire Li Ka-shing as Asia's richest man, according to Bloomberg on Friday.

Lui, the head of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment, saw his fortune rise $3.5 billion this month to $29.6 billion, about $100 million ahead of Li, whose fortune stood at $29.5 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Thursday.

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, said on Friday it is pulling out of the process for the daily fixing of gold and silver prices.

"Deutsche Bank is withdrawing its participation in the gold and silver benchmark setting process following the significant scaling back of our commodities business," the bank said in a statement.

Major Japanese bank Mizuho Financial Group said Friday it was setting up an oversight committee in the wake of a damaging loans-to-gangsters scandal.

The watchdog was among the measures that Mizuho outlined in a report to regulators on how it would deal with the embarrassing revelations, which have also engulfed rivals Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Marking a truce after years of fiscal feuding in Washington, Congress passed a $1.1 trillion spending package Thursday that effectively ended the threat of an election-year government shutdown.

The Senate voted 72 to 26 to approve the massive bill, in a show of bipartisanship after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday for the measure to fund the federal government through September.

China Mobile, the country's biggest services provider, on Friday started selling Apple's iPhone to its millions of customers nationwide, ending a six-year wait in a key market for the U.S. technology giant.

The combination of China Mobile's existing base of 760 million customers and its plans to roll out the world's largest 4G (fourth generation) network have the firm and Apple forecasting a fruitful union -- after a long engagement.

A Japanese government report Friday said the economy was "recovering", its first use of the word since the 2008 global financial crisis, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe works to revive years of tepid growth.

Tokyo's monthly checkup on the world's third-largest economy used some of its most upbeat language in years as it pointed to a pick-up in consumer and capital spending.

The Turkish currency plunged further on Thursday as the government grappled with its worst crisis in years, hitting a new low of 2.20 lira to the dollar.

In late morning trading, the lira was changing hands at 2.2047 to the dollar and 3.0058 to the euro. The Istanbul stock exchange was also down 1.0 percent at 67,452.75 points.

The growing gulf between the rich and the poor represents the biggest global risk this year, the World Economic Forum declared Thursday ahead of this month's Davos summit.

The institution issued the gloomy warning in its annual Global Risks survey, published before its annual get-together of decision-makers at the Swiss mountain resort of Davos from January 22-25.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Air New Zealand on Thursday announced an alliance to expand services to both countries and boost their global reach as they look to capitalize on growing tourism traffic.

The alliance will enable SIA to operate its Airbus A380 superjumbos to New Zealand for the first time, progressively replacing daily services using the smaller Boeing 777-300ER, the firms said in a joint statement.