
Mainland Chinese shares continued to head lower on Thursday, leading the rest of Asia down as concerns over the market's steep slide spread. The benchmark Shanghai Composite was down 3.6% to 3,380.31 points despite aggressive measures by regulators such as banning big investors from selling stocks to boost the flagging market.

Monday's 8% WTI crude decline is setting up a big opportunity for buyers. And there could be more to come. But this is driven by momentum, not by the fundamental conditions in the physical market.

Mainland Chinese shares continued to slide on Wednesday, falling more than 8% on opening. The slump came despite more moves by China's regulators to try and stabilize the recently volatile market.

Euro zone members announced on Tuesday that they have given Greece until the end of the week to come up with a proposal for sweeping reforms in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe's currency bloc and into economic ruin.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday analyzed the Greek situation in separate telephone calls to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House said. Obama began his day with a phone conversation with Merkel, followed by another call to Tsipras.

The World Bank’s Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar, praised the region’s implementation of economic reforms, claiming that they had led to poverty reduction in the last few years, but he also warned that its pace was decreasing.

Chinese stocks plunged Tuesday after mixed fortunes Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 3.2% at opening. The Shenzhen Component Index also opened 3.4% lower and the ChiNext Index, tracking growth enterprises, opened 3.8% lower.

France and Germany told Greece to come up with serious proposals in order to restart financial aid talks, raising pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to compromise a day after his country voted overwhelmingly against more austerity

New Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos may be less flamboyant than his predecessor Yanis Varoufakis, but his views on his country's debt crisis are no less stridently held. While most commentators appear to agree that Mr Tsakalotos, 55, will be less bombastic than Mr Varoufakis in his dealings with international creditors, some argue that his negotiating stance could even be more hard line.

Yanis Varoufakis, who was Greece's finance minister until Monday morning, was reportedly pushed from his job after he told a journalist that Greece could introduce a parallel currency in the weeks ahead. Cash is flooding out of Greek banks at the moment, and the government desperately needs money to make payments due later this month.