Oilfield services provider Halliburton announced on Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs as the company struggles amid falling oil prices.

Australia's biggest supermarket chain Woolworths posts a 33% fall in profit for the six months to December and says there is "much to do" to improve its business.

Royal Bank of Scotland reports a loss of £1.98bn for 2015, its eighth year of annual losses.

British Airways owner IAG says profits for the year rose 64% to €1.8bn (£1.4bn) for the year helped in part by lower fuel prices.

China seeks to assure global finance ministers about the state of its economy, as the G20 meeting gets under way in Shanghai.

The London market opens higher, adding to Thursday's gains, but shares in RBS sink 8% after it reports another annual loss.

London City Airport in London's Docklands has been bought by a consortium led by a major Canadian pension fund for an estimated £2bn.

Shares in electronics giant Sharp lost 11% in Tokyo amid reports that the delay in its takeover by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn was due to previously undisclosed losses.