Crude prices were mixed in Asian trade Wednesday as investors grappled with the escalating debt crisis in the Eurozone ahead of a key European Union summit.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for August, was up 13 cents at $79.49 a barrel in morning trade as the contract stayed below the psychologically important $80.00 threshold.

Boeing on Tuesday named Raymond Connor as the new head of its commercial airplanes business, succeeding Jim Albaugh, who is retiring after 37 years of service at the U.S. aerospace giant.

Conner, 57, was appointed president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, effective immediately, Boeing said in a statement.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, may be forced to request over three billion euros ($3.75 billion) in state aid, just as Italy struggles to stave off debt crisis contagion.

The Tuscan bank may ask for more than three billion euros in so-called "Tremonti bonds" in order to pay off a government loan agreed in 2009 and plug a capital gap, Il Sole 24 Ore business daily said on Tuesday.

The EU embargo on Iranian crude due to come fully into effect on Sunday, on the heels of further U.S. sanctions, has already bitten deeply into the Islamic republic's all-important oil sector.

Despite official denials, Iran oil exports have plummeted some 40 percent in the past six months, to 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Toyota Motor is expanding a tie-up with Germany's BMW on hybrid and fuel-cell vehicle technology as the global automakers push further into the "green" market, a report said Monday.

The two firms' top executives will announce in Germany this week that they are boosting a previously announced agreement involving joint research on next-generation lithium ion batteries, the Nikkei business daily said.

Moody's hit 28 Spanish banks with new credit downgrades Monday, as Madrid formally requested a rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) for the banking sector from its Eurozone partners.

Moody's said the banks face rising losses from commercial real estate loans and that Madrid's own lowered credit grade also contributed to the rating cuts.

Dubai-based financial services and investment group, Saffar, said Monday it has sold its online Mideast business news service Zawya to Thomson Reuters.

"The sale of Zawya to Thomson Reuters is a testament to the fact that Zawya has become an unsurpassed regional platform," said Yousef Al-Quraishi, chairman of Saffar, in a statement.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority believes the world economy offers opportunities for it and other patient investors, despite an uncertain outlook, the government-run fund's managing director said in a report released Monday.

ADIA's 2011 annual review shed little new light on the operations of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. But the comments from Managing Director Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan suggest the tight-lipped fund remains guardedly optimistic about a recovery in economic growth.

Japan and Russia have agreed to throw their support behind a private-sector project to build a liquefied natural gas plant in Russia's Far East, a Japanese official said Monday.

Japanese trade and industry minister Yukio Edano and Russian energy minister Alexander Novak signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in St. Petersburg at the weekend, trade ministry official Tsutomu Kato said.

South Korea's May imports of Iranian crude oil fell 39.5 percent from a year earlier to 3.96 million barrels as it cuts shipments in line with a U.S. sanctions drive, figures showed Monday.

Imports from January to May dropped 15.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the preliminary figures from the state Korea National Oil Corporation.