The CEO of the Nasdaq stock exchange says it is "humbly embarrassed" by its bungling of Facebook's hugely anticipated debut as a public company on Friday.

Robert Greifeld tells news media there's no indication the delay contributed to the underwhelming performance of Facebook's stock, which ended at $38.23 — 23 cents above where it began.

Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday after last week's huge losses, with traders taking some heart from a statement by Group of Eight leaders saying they wanted Greece to remain in the eurozone.

The euro also bounced back from four-month lows against the dollar after the weekend announcement, but comments from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hinting at more monetary easing failed to lift sentiment in Hong Kong.

Australia will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia this week which officials said Monday they hope will help fast-track ongoing talks with China, South Korea and Japan.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson is set to pen the deal in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, his office said, giving Australian companies unprecedented access to one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies.

Some 20,000 people joined a march through the centre of the German financial capital of Frankfurt Saturday, protesting against European austerity programs, police said.

It was the only demonstration of the anti-capitalist movement known as "Blockupy Frankfurt" that was authorized by the city and justice authorities. The other protests over the past four days had been banned by city officials.

Four Arab countries are expected this year to start witnessing major foreign investments after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development established a one billion euro ($1.28 billion) fund, excluding Lebanon from the process for allegedly failing to ask the lending body to carry out a technical assessment on the country.

The fund’s establishment on Friday by the board of governors of the EBRD during a two-day Business Forum in London under the slogan of “Managing in Turbulent Times,” comes a year after they approved to expand the bank’s mandate following a string of popular revolts in the Arab world.

A South Korean joint venture in energy-rich Uzbekistan said Saturday it had secured a $2.5 billion credit line to build a new chemical and gas production unit by 2016.

The Uz-Kor Gas Chemical Company was formed by the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) giant and the Central Asian state's Uzbekneftegas oil and gas company in 2008 amid surging Asia interest in the region's vast reserves.

Facebook stumbled on its first trading day Friday as shares ended barely above the starting price after a glitch-plagued market debut on the Nasdaq that failed to live up to its enormous hype.

The stock, priced at $38 on Thursday in the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) for a technology firm, eked out a gain of just 0.61 percent to end at $38.23, amid record volume of more than 575 million shares traded.

Fears that debt-stricken Greece may be headed for a chaotic Eurozone exit loomed large as President Barack Obama met other G8 leaders for crisis talks in the United States on Friday.

The Group of Eight top economies came together as Greece faces its second election in just six weeks, putting its Eurozone future in doubt and dragging down Spain, where the government is struggling to keep its banks afloat.

World leaders will huddle at Camp David Friday with the focus on Greece as it stumbles toward an unprecedented Eurozone exit that holds wildly uncertain repercussions for the global economy.

Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations will gather at the history-imbued U.S. presidential retreat near Washington for a two-day summit, with the dramatic denouement of Greece's economic crisis firmly at the top of the agenda.

Global demand for gold fell 5.0 percent in the first quarter of 2012 but demand in China hit record highs and outstripped that of megabuyer India, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.

Demand worldwide fell to 1,097.6 tons in the quarter ended March, worth an estimated $59.7 billion, with gold prices on average 16 percent higher than those seen in the same period last year, the council said in its latest report.