Finance news you need to know today

APPLE has approached British Formula One team owner McLaren Technology Group for a strategic investment or a potential buyout.

British Formula One driver Jenson Button, right, and V8 Supercar driver Craig Lowndes at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

HERE are eight things making news in business and finance today.

1. SYDNEY — The Australian dollar has bounced after the US dollar fell as the Federal Reserve downgraded its rate projections. At 0700 AEST on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 76.28 US cents, sharply higher from 75.65 on Wednesday.

2. SYDNEY — The Australian share market looks set to open higher, mirroring a rally on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. At 0655 AEST on Thursday, the share price index was up 32 points at 5,355.

3. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but strongly signalled it could still tighten monetary policy by the end of this year as the labour market improved further.

4. LONDON — Apple Inc has approached British Formula One team owner McLaren Technology Group for a strategic investment or a potential buyout, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.

5. CARACAS/HOUSTON — Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has awarded $US3.2 billion in contracts to drill wells in the Orinoco Belt.

6. CAIRO — Egypt has reversed its controversial zero-tolerance policy on the common grains fungus ergot, the government said on Wednesday, backtracking on an import regulation that had all but blocked its access to global wheat.

7. SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged more than $US3 billion ($A4 billion) toward a plan to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime”.

8. BENGHAZI — An oil tanker left the Libyan port of Ras Lanuf for Italy early on Wednesday with the first crude export cargo from the terminal since at least late 2014, boosting hopes of reviving Libya’s oil output.