Finance News Update, what you need to know

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

The Australian dollar broke through 75 US cents overnight, extending a recent rally into a tenth day.

At 0700 AEDT on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 74.96 US cents, up from 74.31 US cents on Wednesday.

The Australian market looks set to open higher as Wall Street gained after oil prices resumed a month-long rally on Wednesday.

At 0645 AEDT on Thursday, the share price index was up 14 points at 5,169.

ELSEWHERE:

PARIS - French students and trade unions have staged protest marches across the country against far-reaching labour reforms, as President Francois Hollande tries to lower an unemployment rate still stuck above 10 per cent.

ATHENS - Greece and its international lenders resumed talks about the country's fiscal and reform progress, rekindling Athens' hopes that its first bailout review may be concluded before the end of April.

FRANKFURT - German luxury carmaker BMW AG has reported record profit of 6.0 billion euros ($A8.9 billion) for last year, a 10 per cent increase, boosted by stronger sales of its X5 and X6 sport-utility vehicles.

BERLIN - A German court has ruled that the transfer of data by e-commerce websites to Facebook through the "Like" button without the knowledge of consumers infringes German and EU privacy laws.

NEW DELHI - The Bangladesh central bank is working to recover about $US100 million ($A134 million) allegedly stolen by Chinese hackers from an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.