A Look At Economic Developments Around The Globe

The Associated Press

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:

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LONDON — Government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC reported a quarterly loss of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion) despite an improvement in underlying profits and said lending to small- and medium-sized companies increased 5 percent.

Full recovery from its near collapse a year ago will take years, CEO Stephen Hester said.

In European trading, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed 0.3 percent higher while Germany's DAX gained 0.1 percent and the CAC-40 in France fell 0.1 percent.

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The world's top finance officials sought agreement on ways to secure future global economic growth as the world hesitantly emerges from recession. They also tried to make headway in stalled talks over tackling climate change, with a major global warming summit a month away.