JAPAN

The euro sank to four-year lows on Monday as angst over Europe's debt crisis led investors to pull more money from stocks in favor of havens such as gold and Asian bonds.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.46 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.51 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.21 percent at 3:55 a.m. ET.

The groom looked dashing, his bride resplendent in white, but all eyes in this Japanese wedding were on the priest, a four-foot tall robot with colorful, flashing eyes called i-Fairy.

Astellas Pharma , Japan's No.2 drugmaker, agreed to buy U.S. biotech OSI Pharma for $4 billion in cash in a sweetened bid that allows it to add OSI's blockbuster cancer drug Tarceva to its line-up.

Advanced economies face a herculean task to restore public debt to pre-crisis levels, and failure to do so will drive up borrowing costs and curb economic growth, the IMF warned on Friday.

Gold hit record highs near $1,250 an ounce in Europe on Friday as investors bought the metal to protect against sovereign risk in the euro zone and instability in the foreign exchange markets.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, plans to unveil on Monday a much-awaited semiconductor investment plan, a source said, joining a growing list of firms raising spending on global economic recovery.

The beleaguered euro hovered just above a major support level of $1.25 on Friday as worries about Europe's debt problems plagued markets, pressuring stocks and pushing safe-haven gold to near record highs.

Japan's Sanyo Electric, the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries, said on Thursday it would supply Suzuki Motor with lithium-ion battery systems for its plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Although price pressures in the U.S. economy are currently muted, inflation could accelerate in the United States in the next three to five years, the world's biggest bond fund management company said on Thursday.

Director James Cameron, whose blockbuster Avatar set off a 3D frenzy in the movie industry, on Thursday told television producers to put aside their worries about higher filming costs and embrace the technology.

Although price pressures are currently muted, the United States will get an uptick of inflation over the medium term, the world's biggest bond fund management company said on Thursday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower start on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq down 0.1-0.3 percent at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Ford Motor and its China venture partners, Mazda Motor Corp and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co, are seeking Chinese government approval to end their three-way tie up, two sources said on Thursday.

A post-EU rescue plan stock rally remained in place on Thursday with emerging market shares up more than 1 percent and global stocks in general adding to the week's gains.

Asian stocks hit highs for the week on Thursday after new austerity steps pledged by Portugal and Spain raised hopes that Europe's debt crisis can be contained, while IBM's strong profit forecast boosted tech shares.

Gold firmed near a record high reached in the previous session, while the world's largest gold-backed ETF reached an all-time high on Thursday as investors continued to worry that attempts to contain the euro zone debt crisis would either fail or stoke inflation.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday as fresh austerity measures promised by Spain and Portugal gave investors hope that Europe's debt crisis can be contained, while IBM's strong profit forecast gave a further boost to tech shares.

Gold held steady on Thursday after hitting another record near $1,250 an ounce the previous day on continued worries about euro zone debt, while the world's largest gold-backed ETF reached a new all-time high.

Nissan Motor Co expects growth in emerging markets and launches of new models such as its Micra compact to provide only a modest boost to profits this year, in a cautious view echoing its larger Japanese rivals.

The euro slipped on Wednesday on nagging worries about festering euro zone debt problems despite a $1 trillion rescue package unveiled this week, which fueled a short-lived rally in global stocks.