澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-03-06（在线收听）

European leaders have met to discuss Greece's financial crisis. Germany has ruled out giving Greece any financial aid, saying its new austerity measures should be enough to pull the country out of its debt. The Greek government plans to freeze the pension and increase several taxes. That decision sparked violent protests in Athens with demonstrators trying to storm parliament.

And a latest data at the US shows employers cut fewer jobs than expected in February. Thirty-six thousand jobs were lost last month, analysts were expecting a 50,000 to go. The unemployment rate remains steady at 9.7 percent. There's  hope the economy may be on the brink of creating jobs.

Share markets in the US jumped on the employment news. The Dow Jones ended the session 122 points higher. The NASDAQ soared to its highest close in 18 months. These jobs figures also lifted European shares with London also boasting its best finished in 18 months. Stocks here rose for the fourth week in a row after encouraging retail sales. The ASX 200 ended the week 17 points higher with the All Ords up a similar amount.

And to the currencies briefly early on Saturday, the Australian dollar was buying 90 US cents.

And that's ABC Business News.