Traders kept bets the Federal Reserve will leave its benchmark interest rate in its current range of 5.25%-5.5% next month after data Thursday showed inflation rose in July as expected, but also continue to price in nearly even odds of one rate hike by year's end.

Major Chinese cities have said they will allow people to take preferential loans for first-home purchases regardless of their credit records, in the latest move to help revive an embattled property sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a summit of G20 leaders in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters, a development that would dash chances of a meeting there with U.S. President Joe Biden.

The Biden administration is offering $12 billion in grants and loans for auto makers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday.

Japanese companies raised spending on plants and equipment in April-June but the pace of annual gains slowed to the lowest in five quarters, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Friday, reflecting global recession worries amid China's slowing growth.

China's central bank said on Friday it will cut the amount of foreign exchange that financial institutions must hold as reserves for the first time this year, a move seen aimed at slowing the pace of recent yuan declines.