Eurozone nations Tuesday failed to secure a deal on a controversial financial transactions tax but said they aimed for an agreement in mid-2016 despite the furious opposition of Britain.

The plan was first proposed in 2011 to force banks and investment houses to pay for the excesses which led to the 2008 financial crash and the eurozone debt crisis but has been mired in disagreements since.

The yen picked up Tuesday after better-than-expected Japanese growth data eased worries about the economy, and lowered expectations of more Bank of Japan stimulus in the near term.

Japan sidestepped its second recession in as many years after the revised figures published Tuesday showed that the gross domestic product (GDP) actually expanded by 0.3 percent in July-September.

Australian energy giant Woodside Petroleum on Tuesday dropped its estimated Aus$11.6 billion (U.S.$8.4 billion) bid for Oil Search, as energy stocks crashed in Australia on plunging oil prices caused by a global supply glut.

Woodside, Australia's largest oil company, said it informed the board of Oil Search it had "withdrawn its proposal to merge the businesses", without elaborating on the reasons why.

The president of one of China's "big four" state-owned banks has resigned for personal reasons, it said, after reports he had been taken away in a corruption investigation, as probes widen in the country's financial sector.

Zhang Yun had stepped down from Agricultural Bank of China, the bank said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed.

Australia will introduce an entrepreneur visa and offer tax breaks for start-ups, the government said Monday as it tries to unleash an "ideas boom" to move the economy away from dependence on mining.

Launching a signature Aus$1.1 billion (U.S.$806 million) four-year innovation agenda, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia needed a "dynamic, 21st century economy" underpinned by creativity.

Oil stayed below $40 a barrel in Asia Monday after the OPEC cartel decided against slashing high output levels and traders turned their attention on a U.S. central bank meeting next week.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January was down 33 cents at $39.64 and Brent crude for January was trading 22 cents lower at $42.78 a barrel at around 0655 GMT.

Israel's state-owned electric utility says Egyptian natural gas companies will pay it compensation of $1.76 billion for halting gas supplies.

Egypt stopped selling natural gas to Israel in 2012 after months of attacks on a pipeline by militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli electric company sued the Egyptian providers EGPC and EGAS for $4 billion in damages. The company said it suffered heavy damages after gas supplies were halted and that it was forced to buy more expensive fuel to generate electricity, raising its costs

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a warning Sunday over an "uneasy calm" within financial markets, noting that the global economy remains vulnerable to serious disruptions. 

The BIS -- known as the central bank of central banks -- made the call in its quarterly report which is closely watched by investors. 

OPEC's policy of maintaining high oil production risks heaping more downward pressure on oil prices, especially with Iranian crude set to enter the global marketplace, analysts say.

While lower prices eat into the revenues of the oil cartel's members, cheap crude may result in lower production from non-OPEC nations -- helping countries like Saudi Arabia preserve their market share.

As Spain's flagship renewable energy giant Abengoa teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, concerns are mounting over the fate of thousands of employees and its numerous projects around the world, just weeks ahead of crux general elections.

The group filed for protection from its creditors late last month, giving it four months to find a solution to its astronomical debt or go bankrupt and become Spain's biggest-ever corporate failure.