The International Monetary Fund will send a staff mission to Greece next month to assess the country's performance under an austerity program backed by an international rescue, an IMF spokesman said Thursday.

The IMF mission will begin discussions in Athens with Greek and European Union officials on February 8, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a news briefing.

Secretary General Anders Fosh Rasmussen on Thursday expressed deepening unease at a growing disparity in defense spending between the United States and European allies due to economic pressures on eurozone governments.

"Defense spending among the allies is increasingly uneven, not just between North America and Europe, but also among European allies," Rasmussen said in an annual address in Brussels.

Dubai-based real estate giant Emaar Properties said Thursday its 2012 net profit rose 18 percent compared on year to $577 million, as its retail and hospitality arms grew robustly.

Revenues increased only slightly to $2.24 billion from $2.21 billion in 2011, with shopping malls and other retail businesses contributing $1.12 billion, which was up 27 percent on an annual basis.

Asian markets were mixed Thursday, with late buying offsetting earlier falls that had been fuelled by losses on Wall Street as U.S. data showed the economy shrank in the final three months of 2012.

The surprise numbers from Washington, the first contraction since mid-2009, saw the dollar weaken further after suffering a sell-off in New York trade.

Greece reeled on Thursday from fresh strikes against austerity measures enacted by the coalition government in return for vital EU-IMF funds to avoid bankruptcy.

Sailors kicked off a two-day walkout, buses and trains were at a standstill and civil servants planned to hold a three-hour work stoppage against the government's cutbacks.

Chinese companies plan to step up investment this year in Europe, which some see as more welcoming than the United States, a European business group said Thursday.

The report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China comes as Europe courts Chinese investment in hopes of generating new jobs and shedding its economic malaise.

Spain's economy shrank at the fastest pace in more than three years in the final quarter of 2012, official data showed Wednesday, casting a shadow over the prospects of nearly six million unemployed.

Total economic output slumped 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, the steepest decline since the second quarter of 2009, after a 0.3-percent dip the previous quarter.

German financial aid to Egypt depends on progress on democracy in the country, Germany's foreign minister warned on Wednesday, hours before a scheduled visit by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

Guido Westerwelle said on ARD public television that Berlin's offer of help "depends on advances in the democratic development in Egypt".

Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB blamed higher costs developing a new brand and the effects of a stronger Swedish krona for a 1 percent fall in further-quarter profits.

The decline broke a three-quarter streak of rising earnings for H&M, which specializes in offering trendy fashion lines at low prices.

Byblos Bank showed high resilience facing the worldwide economic downturn as well as the political uncertainty in the region. By sticking to its conservative strategy, the Bank preserved its solid financial position during the year 2012, a press release said Wednesday.

The Bank successfully issued in December 2012, USD 300 million, 10-year convertible subordinated loans bearing a yearly coupon of 6.5% paid quarterly.