Europe's main stock markets rose on Friday and the dollar surged to a new four-year high above 101 yen, boosted by upbeat US labour market data and before a key G7 finance meeting. Traders were also awaiting a speech from US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke. In early afternoon deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies advanced 0.57 percent to 6,630.50 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.65 percent to 8,315.30 points and in Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.59 percent at 3,932.97.

By Gabriel Wildau SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China has released new rules to curb currency speculation amid signs that hot money inflows have helped push the yuan to a series of record highs in recent weeks. The rules tighten limits on long yuan positions that banks can hold for their own accounts and aim to discourage firms from using dollar loans as a means to speculate on yuan gains.

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock markets around the world edged higher on Tuesday amid signs of improving growth, even though questions about monetary policy limited gains. The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 ended at all-time highs, while the dollar rose and gold fell.

Australia's central bank announced plans Wednesday to invest Aus$2 billion of its reserves in Chinese government bonds, building on recent moves to begin direct trade of the two nations' currencies. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) deputy governor Philip Lowe said the decision represented the "first time that the RBA will have invested directly in a sovereign bond market of an Asian country other than Japan". "Our current intention is to hold around five percent of Australia's foreign currency assets in China," Lowe said of total reserves worth some Aus$38 billion.