The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced it was opening a "precautionary" $6.2 billion line of credit for Morocco to protect the economy from external shocks.

"The Moroccan authorities have stated that they... do not intend to draw on the line, unless Morocco experiences actual balance of payments needs from a deterioration of external conditions," the IMF said in a statement.

Standard & Poor's on Friday cut the ratings on 15 Italian banks, but left ratings unchanged for market leaders UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca.

The agency said the ratings cuts -- which included Unione di Banche Italiane, better known as UBI -- reflected "increased credit risk for the Italian economy and its banks."

The International Monetary Fund on Friday issued a $2 billion loan for Jordan to steady the country's battered economy and protect it from external "shocks" in the region.

The IMF executive board approved the three-year loan, making $385.35 million immediately available, the fund said in a statement.

Standard & Poor's on Friday cut its credit rating on Japan's Sharp after the electronics giant warned a day earlier that it would likely post a bigger annual loss than first thought.

The global ratings agency said it downgraded Sharp by one notch to "BBB" -- ninth on a scale of 22 -- and kept the firm on a negative outlook, adding that a loss in the April-June first quarter "worsened beyond our expectations".

Failed Franco-Belgian banking group Dexia reported a 1.2-billion-euro loss in the first half of 2012 linked mainly to interest payments on state bailouts from France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The bank said in a statement that results were also hit by a 184 million euro ($224 million) charge on its stake in Kommunalkredit Austria.

Toyota said Friday that its quarterly net profit skyrocketed to $3.71 billion and it upped sales targets, as the Japanese auto giant recovered from last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

The company said it earned 290.3 billion yen in the fiscal first quarter to June, up from just 1.16 billion yen a year ago -- the first full quarter after Japan was devastated by the March 11 natural disasters that dented production and demand.

U.S. business software giant Oracle said Thursday it agreed to accept a $306 million settlement from German rival SAP to shortcut the appeals process in a suit over massive copyright infringement.

The agreement is a stipulation between the two firms to end the case in the lower courts and allow an appeal to proceed.

Nearly a third of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Syria have closed since an anti-government uprising erupted in March last year, a business leader said in comments published on Thursday.

"Today, unemployment is rising, and 30 percent of small and medium-sized businesses have closed their doors," Damascus Chamber of Commerce member Sonia Khanji told the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's maintained its top AAA credit rating for Germany Thursday, due to what it called the strong fundamentals and outlook for Europe's top economy.

"The unsolicited ratings on Germany reflect our view of its modern, highly diversified and competitive economy, its strong external creditor position, and its record of prudent fiscal policies and expenditure discipline," it said.

Australia has signed a nuclear supply treaty with the United Arab Emirates in a deal Foreign Minister Bob Carr said would see the Gulf state become Canberra's first Middle Eastern uranium customer.

Carr and UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyam inked the deal in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, with the Australian minister describing it as a "step forward" for the Emirates' domestic nuclear power plans.