The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a three-year, $12 billion loan for Egypt to help the country recover from its deep economic crisis.

OPEC said Friday that it pumped oil at record levels last month even though the cartel aims to agree a production cut in less than three weeks in an effort to boost prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in September in Algiers to trim production but the accord still has to be finalised on November 30 in Vienna.

In a bright spot for China's cooling economy, online shoppers spent billions of dollars Friday on "Singles Day," a quirky holiday that has grown into the world's busiest day for e-commerce.

The country's biggest e-commerce brand, Alibaba Group, said sales by the thousands of retailers on its platforms passed 82.4 billion yuan ($12 billion) in the first 12 hours of the event. That is four times the $3 billion research firm comScore says Americans spent in total last year on Cyber Monday, the country's biggest online shopping day.

Creditors of South Korea's STX Offshore and Shipbuilding on Friday narrowly approved a debt restructuring plan, avoiding the imminent liquidation of what was once the country's fourth largest shipbuilder.

The agreement came a week after the bankruptcy court handling the case said it had received bids from four foreign shipbuilders for the troubled shipyard and its profitable French unit, which makes cruise ships.

The dollar soared against high-yielding currencies and Asian emerging markets sank Friday on the prospect of higher US interest rates, with dealers betting Donald Trump's planned huge spending policies will fire inflation.

Saudi Arabia is working to pay billions of dollars owed to private firms after oil revenues collapsed, the kingdom's new finance minister said on Thursday.

Mexico is willing to "modernize" the North American Free Trade Agreement with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration and Canada, but will not renegotiate the pact, the foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said NAFTA has "yielded great results" for the three nations, but that there is an opportunity to make it "more beneficial" to all.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he is willing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to change or scrap.

Russia's antitrust authority on Thursday said it had opened an investigation into Microsoft for allegedly abusing its dominance in the antivirus software market.

The IMF has something in common with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump: it recognizes the depth of negative feelings towards globalization and warns that those who have been passed over need help.

Trump has promised to spur a sharp increase in U.S. growth and bring back lost manufacturing jobs, and though he has not explained how, his message resonated with voters.