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The world's second-biggest fashion retailer H&M said on Friday it would open a first store in Panama at the end of 2020, making the country its first Central American market.

Oil prices edged higher on Friday but were set to end the week broadly steady as sluggish economic growth in China, the world's biggest crude importer, raised concerns about fuel demand and countered optimism from the signing of a China-U.S. trade deal.

Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and the parent of iPhone assembler Foxconn plan to set up a joint venture to build electric cars and develop internet-connected vehicles, the two groups said.

British Airways-owner IAG lifted a restriction on non-EU investors' ability to buy its stock, helping boost its share price by more than 5%.

World shares rose to record highs on Friday, buoyed by Chinese data that suggested the world's second-biggest economy was stabilizing.

Renault said on Friday it expected a slight decline in the car market in Europe, Russia and China this year after the French carmaker reported a 3.4% fall of worldwide sales in 2019 as China and Iran weighed.

Bayer is close to settling more than 75,000 cancer claims related to its Roundup herbicide, mediator Ken Feinberg told Bloomberg in an interview, saying he was "cautiously optimistic" a deal could be reached in about a month.

China's financial markets are nearly evenly divided over whether the benchmark lending rate will be lowered or kept steady next Monday, a survey of participants showed, after the central bank kept rates on medium-term loans unchanged this week.

China's economic growth cooled to its weakest in nearly 30 years in 2019 amid a bruising trade war with the United States, and more stimulus is expected this year as Beijing tries to boost sluggish investment and demand.

Asian shares rose on Friday after data in China showed pressure on the world's second biggest economy may be starting to diminish.

The world's second-biggest fashion retailer H&M said on Friday it would expand to Central America, starting with a first store in Panama at the end of 2020.

Volkswagen AG is set to take a 20% stake in Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Guoxuan High-tech Co Ltd, two sources told Reuters, as the German firm accelerates its electric push into the world's largest auto market.

Oil prices were steady on Friday as reports of sluggish economic growth in China, the world's biggest crude importer, raised concerns about fuel demand which countered optimism from the signing of a Sino-U.S. trade deal this week.

French automaker Renault on Friday reported a 3.4% fall in 2019 worldwide sales to 3.75 million vehicles despite growth in Europe.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party on Friday slammed editorial policies of billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, even as his e-commerce firm Amazon announced plans to create a million jobs in the country by 2025.