Eurozone business and consumer confidence in December rose to levels last seen in July 2011 as the economy recovers from a hugely damaging recession, official data showed Thursday.

The European Commission said its Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for the eurozone rose 1.6 points to 100, with the wider 28-nation European Union up 1.4 points to 103.5.

Turkey said on Wednesday that the state-owned Halkbank, whose chief executive was rounded up in a sweeping graft probe, would keep on handling payments for energy imports from neighboring Iran.

"The Iranian state has accounts with Halkbank. We deposit the payments for the oil and gas to these accounts," Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said in an interview with Bloomberg HT television.

Australian carrier Qantas said it was facing some of its toughest-ever challenges on Thursday as Moody's downgraded its credit rating to junk, with the airline battling intense competition and spiraling costs.

Moody's cited "a sharp deterioration in the company's core domestic business" following the airline's shock profit warning and announcement of job cuts in December, which had already prompted Standard and Poor's to assign it junk status.

Self-rule activists in eastern Libya, who have been blockading key oil terminals for months, said Wednesday they would resume exports outside central government control and in defiance of the navy.

The announcement by the head of the self-declared Cyrenaica regional government marked a sharp escalation of its standoff with Tripoli, which on Sunday deployed the navy to prevent two tankers docking in the activist-held eastern port of Al-Sedra to take on crude.

The eurozone unemployment rate continued near record highs at 12.1 percent in November, unchanged from the October level, as a modest recovery produced few new jobs, official data showed on Wednesday.

There were about 19.24 million jobless in the eurozone in November, up 4,000 from October but soaring by 452,000 compared with November 2012 as the debt crisis peaked, the Eurostat statistics agency said.

Facebook has bought an Indian mobile technology start-up called Little Eye Labs, the first business deal in the country by the world's biggest social network, the Indian firm said.

With Facebook users increasingly logging in from mobile phones, Bangalore-based Little Eye will help Facebook develop performance analysis and monitoring tools that provide data such as the memory and power consumption of applications.

Oil prices edged higher in Asia Wednesday as dealers sat on the sidelines ahead of an upcoming U.S. stockpiles report, while a record-breaking North American cold snap provided strong support.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery, was up 29 cents at $93.96 in mid-morning trade while Brent North Sea crude for February rose eight cents at $107.43.

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe for free trade talks Tuesday, as pressure mounted at home over a corruption scandal in which hundreds of police officers were fired.

The two countries also confirmed their cooperation on nuclear technology, as Abe seeks deals to revive the world's third-largest economy.

South Korea's Samsung said Tuesday it expected a steep drop in its operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2013, as slowing sales of high-end smartphones and a strong won hit the world's top technology firm.

The company forecast an operating profit of 8.3 trillion won ($7.8 billion) for October-December, down 18.3 percent from the third quarter and 6.1 percent lower than a year earlier.

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it had raised $1 billion through a sovereign bond issue despite a warning by the International Monetary Fund against increasing its foreign borrowing.

The central bank said the five-year bond, offering an annual six percent yield, was more than three times oversubscribed within hours of opening Monday.