1. Railway firm Midas said yesterday that its joint-venture company - Nanjing SR Puzhen Rail Transport - had secured a metro train contract worth approximately 1.28 billion yuan (S$278 million).

2. Brazil's economy is expected to shrink nearly 3 per cent this year, according to a weekly central bank poll of economists yesterday. Brazil fell into one of its deepest recessions on record last year.

3. Insurance claims from natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes fell to US$27 billion (S$38 billion) in 2015 as the overall cost of natural catastrophes dropped to its lowest since 2009, reinsurer Munich Re said yesterday.

4. British mortgage lending grew the most since April 2008, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Lending rose £3.9 billion (S$8.1 billion) in November from October, the Bank of England said yesterday.

5. Ant Financial, the finance arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, said it is looking to raise funds from investors ahead of a planned initial public offering as the company taps investors for growth.