BEIJING (Reuters) - The recovery in China’s service sector activity extended into a fourth straight month in August, an industry survey showed on Thursday, with companies hiring more people for the first time since January.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The dollar clung to overnight gains on Thursday, as investors trimmed bets against the greenback and sold the euro on concerns that the European Central Bank was worried about its rise.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed in early trade on Thursday, sitting near multi-week lows hit overnight on worries about fuel demand due to a patchy U.S. economic recovery.

LONDON/TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Factories across Europe, Asia and North America continued to shake off the coronavirus gloom in August as the global economy emerged from a downturn triggered by the health crisis, thanks in part to massive fiscal and monetary stimulus programmes.

The economic activity in the US' manufacturing sector expanded at a stronger pace in August than it did in July with the ISM's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbing from 54.2 in July to 56. This reading marked the highest print since January 2019 and came in better than the market expectation of 54.5.

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose on Wednesday after positive data on the U.S. manufacturing sector spurred hopes of a global economic recovery remains on track to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.