SYDNEY - European funding markets have effectively shut down to Australia's banks, the chief executive of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

The Australian share market ended a little lower yesterday, despite a positive start to the session. The ASX 200 Index (XJO) fell 8 points to 4157 points.

By Yusuke Miyazawa on May 17, 2012 The cost of insuring Japanese corporate debt from default surged to the highest in more than seven months amid concern Greece may have to leave the euro.

By Sarah Turner and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) - Asian stocks plunged on Friday as fresh fears about Spanish banks added to existing worries about capital flight from Greek lenders, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars ...

SYDNEY(MarketWatch)-- Australian shares sank early Friday, tracking sharp losses on Wall Street overnight as fears of a run of Europe's banks spread to Spain and sapped investor confidence.

By Caroline Henshaw ("2nd UPDATE: Commonwealth Bank Reports 3% Gain In Quarterly Cash Profit," published at 0447 GMT, misstated the time frame for the earnings outlook in the 2nd paragraph.