The EU, IMF and World Bank said Tuesday that economic reforms agreed with the Romanian government, currently in political crisis, remain "broadly on track."

In a statement marking the end of a sixth review of progress under a three-year-old bailout program, the international lenders said Bucharest was going in the right direction despite "challenging conditions."

France's economy managed zero growth in the second quarter of 2012, data showed Tuesday, beating expectations it would begin a slide into recession.

In its first flash estimate for the second quarter, the national statistics institute INSEE said that French gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged.

British energy group BP said Monday that it had agreed to sell its Carson refinery in California to U.S. peer Tesoro Corporation for $2.5 billion (2.02 billion euros).

The sale is part of BP's previously-announced plans to sell $38 billion of assets by the end of 2013 to help pay the clean-up bill and compensation costs from the devastating 2010 U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Oil prices were higher in Asian trade Tuesday buoyed by an expected crude supply cut in the North Sea and intensifying talk of an Israeli military strike against Iran, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, gained 23 cents to $92.96 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for September advanced two cents to $113.62.

The Group of 20 top economies will meet shortly to try and coordinate a response to soaring food prices, driven by drought and rising demand, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress to help farmers struggling with the worst U.S. drought in half a century after the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned of sharply rising crop prices.

Swiss private banking group Julius Baer said Monday it will acquire Merrill Lynch's International Wealth Management business outside the United States from Bank of America for some 860 million Swiss francs ($879 million, 716 million euros).

The acquisition, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to add up to 72 billion Swiss francs to assets under management over the next two years, the bank said in a statement.

Australia's struggling BlueScope Steel Monday announced a U.S. $1.36 billion joint venture with Japan's Nippon Steel in a bid to tap new markets and help ease concerns over its balance sheet.

The 50-50 joint venture, NS BlueScope Coated Products, will see Nippon Steel acquire half of BlueScope's interest in its Southeast Asian and North American building products businesses.

Growth in export-driven Japan slowed in the three months to June, official data showed Monday, with the debt crisis in Europe and the unsteady global economy crimping demand.

Gross domestic product grew a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, the Cabinet Office said, a fourth straight rise but much slower than the brisk 1.3 percent seen in January-March.

Faltering economic growth will undercut global oil demand this year and next, the International Energy Agency said Friday, citing slowdowns in China and the United States in particular.

"Sluggish economic growth could restrict annual oil demand growth to 0.9 million barrels per day in 2012 and 0.8 mbpd in 2013, with demand averaging 89.6 mbpd and 90.5 mbpd," down from last month's estimates of 89.9 mbpd and 90.9 mbpd, respectively, the IEA said in its latest Oil Market Report.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is still growing but the outlook is becoming increasingly clouded by "substantial risks" from the debt crisis, the economy ministry warned Friday.

"In a difficult European environment, the German economy is continuing to show itself to be fairly robust," the ministry said in its latest monthly report.