Finance news you need to know today

IT’S not over for Donald Trump’s controversial Muslim travel ban, with the Justice Department set to appeal its suspension.

Protesters outside court during the appeal over Donald Trump's travel ban. Picture: Jason Redmond

HERE are six things making news in business and finance around the world today.

1. SYDNEY — The Australian market looks set to open flat after a near-five per cent plunge in the oil price and bucking Wall Street’s record-setting positive lead. At 0702 AEST on Friday, the share price futures index was down three points, or 0.05 per cent, at 5,792.

2. SYDNEY — The Australian dollar has fallen amid sinking commodity prices as oil slumps close to five per cent with markets disappointed by OPEC’s extension of production cuts.

The local currency was trading at 74.56 US cents at 0702 AEST on Friday, from 74.91 on Thursday.

3. SICILY — US president Donald Trump has arrived in Sicily from Brussels ahead of a two-day Group of Seven summit at which other leaders are expected to pressure him to soften his stance on trade and climate change.

4. BRUSSELS — A smiling Donald Trump has offered European Union chiefs assurances on security in Brussels but EU officials did not conceal lingering differences with the US president over Russia, trade and climate change.

5. WASHINGTON — The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has backed legislation that would impose new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile development, support for Islamist militant groups, weapons transfers and human rights violations.

6. WASHINGTON — The US Department of Justice says it will appeal a ruling upholding a suspension of President Donald Trump’s travel ban to the US Supreme Court. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision in a statement on Thursday after a US appeals court upheld a lower court’s ruling blocking Trump’s executive order which bans travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.