Finance News Update, what you need to know

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

The Australian dollar is higher, continuing to outperform other major currencies helped by some certainty over the local interest rate outlook.

At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 90.90 US cents, up from 90.68 cents on Friday.

And the Australian share market looks set to open lower following Wall Street's fall on profit taking and caution over the Ukraine crisis.

At 0645 AEDT on Monday, the June share price index futures contract was down 21 points at 5,307.

ELSEWHERE:

SHANGHAI - China's central bank has hinted it is willing to accept some debt defaults in the $1.8 trillion wealth management market, as the world's second-largest economy struggles to curb bad debts that pose a risk to the financial system.

TEXAS CITY, Texas - The clean-up of an unknown amount of thick, sticky oil that spilled into Galveston Bay has blocked traffic between the Gulf of Mexico and one of the world's busiest petrochemical transportation waterways, affecting all vessels, even cruise ships.

THE HAGUE - China and the Netherlands have signed a trade pact pledging Dutch dairy expertise to help Chinese producers boost the quality and quantity of their milk.

HARARE - The African Export-Import Bank has announced a $US100 million ($A110.85 million) loan to Zimbabwe's banking sector to ease a credit crunch that has deepened the country's economic woes.

HARARE- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has appointed economist John Mangudya as governor of the country's central bank, state media reports.

WASHINGTON - The US National Security Agency has secretly tapped into the networks of Chinese telecom and internet giant Huawei, the New York Times and Der Spiegel have reported on their websites.

NEW YORK - Tribeca Enterprises, the film company co-founded by Robert De Niro and the presenter of the Tribeca Film Festival, has sold a 50 per cent stake to the Madison Square Garden Company.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras says it's fired a senior executive who recommended the costly purchase of a Texas refinery in 2006, a deal that is being investigated for alleged irregularities.