Finance News Update, what you need to know

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

The Australian dollar is lower after Russia threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe.

At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 90.37 US cents, down from 90.90 cents on Friday.

And the Australian share market looks set to open lower after Wall Street finished mixed as a better-than-expected US jobs report helped offset anxiety over Ukraine that sent European equities lower.

At 0645 AEDT on Monday, the March share price index futures contract was down 16 points at 5,456.

ELSEWHERE:

BEIJING - China recorded an unexpected trade deficit of $US22.98 billion ($A25.37 billion) in February, official figures show, with authorities blaming the country's holiday season for the weak performance.

BEIJING - China's inflation rate has dropped to 2.0 per cent year-on-year in February, down from 2.5 per cent in January.

WASHINGTON - Four Central European nations are urging the US to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the risk that Russia could cut its supply of gas to Ukraine, but the White House says such a move would take more than a year.

PANAMA CITY - President Ricardo Martinelli has warned Venezuela that its decision to break off relations with Panama should not be used as an excuse to renege on its more than $US1 billion ($A1.1 billion) debt.

THE HAGUE - Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever says it has bought a majority stake in Chinese water purification company Qinyuan in its biggest investment in the country in a decade.

NEW YORK - Boeing says hairline cracks have been found in the wings of some of its 787 Dreamliners still in production due to a manufacturing problem.

PHILADELPHIA - Comcast Corp will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in California and Florida theme parks, stepping outside its core business of telecommunications in an effort to boost revenue and profits.

TOKYO - Bitcoin exchange MtGox faced a massive hacker offensives last month, coming under 150,000 DDoS attacks a second for several days ahead of its spectacular failure, a report says.

WASHINGTON - Samsung has unveiled a free music service for users of its Galaxy smartphones, entering a crowded market that includes Pandora, Spotify and Apple's iTunes.