We didn't mean to rip people off at the pump, say Asda owners

Thanks for joining us today on the Markets live blog. Chris Price will be back in the morning but, in the meantime, here are a couple of our latest business stories from this afternoon:

• AI race a free for all, warns veteran investor Terry Smith
• US publisher removes Nazi content amid free speech backlash

City investment fund Jupiter has announced the departure of its star money manager, sending shares tumbling. Adam Mawardi reports:

Ben Whitmore, who manages nearly a fifth of Jupiter’s assets, will leave in July after almost two decades with the fund to launch his own boutique firm, it was announced on Tuesday.

The high-profile exit will raise the pressure on Jupiter, which also revealed on Tuesday that investors had pulled more money than expected from its funds last year.

The FTSE 250 business saw £2.2bn was withdrawn from its funds last year, despite previously forecasting that outflows would be “modest”.

It blamed funding delays from institutional mandates and low confidence among retail investors in October and November after outflows were “incrementally more negative” than feared.

Jupiter’s share price closed nearly 15pc lower on Tuesday following the announcements.

It comes as Matthew Beesley, Jupiter’s chief executive, embarks on plans to slash costs and close funds in an effort to overhaul the asset manager’s offering.

Mr Whitmore, who joined Jupiter in 2006, currently manages £10bn of assets at Jupiter. This includes its £2.16bn Special Situations Fund, its £1.6bn Income Trust and segregated portfolios worth £4.8bn.

Mr Beesley said: “Having worked at Jupiter since 2006, Ben informed me of his ambition to set up a new independent value equities boutique which has been a long-term personal aspiration for him.

“I would like to thank him sincerely for his contribution to the company and, after he leaves Jupiter, wish him well for the future.”

American hedge fund Elliott Management has built up a $1bn (£790m) stake in the owner of Tinder as the dating company struggles to turn around a languishing share price. Our reporter Matthew Field has the details: 

News of the fund’s holding sent shares in New York-listed Match Group up as much as 11pc on Tuesday, which has slumped from a high point during the pandemic. 

A spokesman for the group, which owns Match.com, Tinder, OKCupid and Hinge, said: “Our team regularly engages with investors, and will continue to work to create great experiences for our users and value for our shareholders.”

Dating app companies have been grappling with a slowdown in growth after enticing a generation of singles to swipe left and right. The market for dating has become saturated with “freemium” apps all trying to convince users to pay for extra features.

Launched in 2012, Tinder has been downloaded more than 530m times, but its total user numbers dropped by 6pc year-on-year, according to the company’s latest results, falling to 10.4m.

In its last quarterly results, Match admitted that the number of paying subscribers across its apps fell by around 5pc, down by 836,000. The company has been forced to cut its revenue expectations.

Dating apps have also struggled to attract “Gen Z” users. A study by news website Axios found 79pc of US college students reported using dating apps less than once per month.

The Wall Street Journal, which first disclosed Elliott’s interest in Match, reported that it was not yet clear what strategy the hedge fund would pursue to boost returns for investors.

Elliott did not respond to a request for comment.

BMW hit record sales in 2023, delivering over 2.5m BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles to customers last year, an increase of 6.5pc.

Sales of fully electric vehicles jumped 74.4pc to 376,183 units, which the company said “significantly outperformed the total market for fully-electric vehicles, underlining the company’s role as an e-mobility pioneer.”

The carmaker said it would continue its growth trajectory for electric vehicles, pledging that one in every five of the company’s newly delivered vehicles will be fully electric this year, rising to one in four in 2025.

Jochen Goller, a member of BMW’s management team, said: “We were able to ramp up electromobility even more dynamically in 2023 and achieve the goal of 15pc of total sales from fully electric vehicles”.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.13pc today. The biggest risers were water company Severn Trent, up 1.99pc, followed by drug company GSK, up 4.14pc. The biggest fallers were insurance company Beazley, down 4.35pc, and JD Sports, down 4.19pc.

Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 0.51pc. The biggest risers were oil and gas company Harbour Energy, up 3.12pc, followed by Hg technology private equity group Hg Capital, up 2.92pc. Jupiter Asset Management plunged 14.63pc, while recruitment firm Hays declined 7.15pc.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said:

The FTSE100 has underperformed more than most month to date simply due to weakness in commodity prices, although oil prices are having a bit of a rebound today.

The basic resource sector continues to act as a lag with weakness in Rio Tinto and Glencore, while retail is also a little softer today with JD Sports down for the second day in a row, while disappointing BRC retail sales for December is also weighing on the rest of the sector, with Ocado, Marks and Spencer and Kingfisher all near the bottom of the UK index.

A lobby group representing big businesses in Germany has urged the German government to provide military support to make the Red Sea safe for container vessels.

The BDI, which describes itself “the voice of Germany industry”, are the strongest yet by German industry on what supply delays in one of the world’s top trading arteries could mean for local companies and businesses that are already suffering from a recession

Wolfgang Niedermark, a member of the BDI’s executive board, told Reuters:

Securing maritime trade routes is not only in the interests of Germany’s economy, it is a fundamental part of our national security.

The German government must now take responsibility without further hesitation and take the necessary steps, together with its allies, to protect the currently threatened sea routes in the Suez Canal and the Red Sea against the ongoing attacks, also militarily.

He said that Germany, being the world’s third-strongest trading nation, had to take an active lead.

The German Defence Ministry is evaluating a possible participation in the US-led mission, a spokesperson told Reuters.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is unlikely to be any more accomodating of the desires of a Labour government than the Tories, says Jeremy Warner: 

Anyone would think that the Office for Budget Responsibility was a Labour Party invention the way the Opposition keeps championing the Government’s fiscal watchdog against attacks from the Tory Right.

“Yet again we see the Tories talking down the independent OBR and undermining our economic institutions,” Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, fumed in response to a resumed attack this week on the OBR by a group of Conservative MPs, who accused it of “holding back the country’s recovery”.

In fact, the OBR is a Tory creation, and as for being an “economic institution”, it is actually only 14 years old.

Read on to find out why disdain for the OBR’s forecasting record is odd.

Undervalued British companies are at increasing risk from activist investors, a consultancy giant has warned. Michael Bow reports:

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) identified 54 listed businesses at risk of from activists over the next 18 months, up from 52 last year after valuations fell to a record low. 

Companies in the consumer and energy sectors were most vulnerable, it said.

Although A&M does not reveal the names of the companies, it said “consumer packaged goods” firms were most likely to attract attention.

 A&M managing director Malcolm McKenzie said: “Activists remain on the hunt for undervalued companies that are ripe for improvement.

“The UK market in particular has a significant valuation gap compared to its global peers, leaving more room for both M&A and activism in 2024.”

UK stocks are relatively cheap compared to their European counterparts, with the price-to-earnings ratios of listed British companies 17pc lower than the Eurozone average last year.

Activists are investment funds that agitate for change at companies they own in the hope of boosting the share price.

The number of activist campaigns in the UK rose to 59 last year from 55 in 2022, with the consumer sector accounting for nearly half of campaigns. 

Boeing met its jetliner delivery goals and recorded a 70pc boost to its orders in 2023, reflecting a record-shattering year of sales for planemakers.

The US company delivered 528 planes in 2023 and booked 1,314 net new orders after allowing for cancellations, up from 480 deliveries and 774 net new orders in 2022.

It delivered 396 narrowbody 737 jets last year, meeting its revised goal of at least 375 single-aisle planes but falling short of the initial target of 400 to 450 jets.

Boeing delivered 73 787 Dreamliners in 2023, meeting its goal of 70 to 80 aircraft.

Boeing’s orders and deliveries are likely to eclipsed by its European rival Airbus, which broke industry records for gross and net orders and beat its delivery target of 720 airplanes in 2023 with deliveries in the mid-730s, sources told Reuters last week.

Airbus is set to announce its orders and deliveries on Thursday.

From a replica of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation gown to a reproduction of the Gold State Coach, costumes, props and sets from the award-winning drama The Crown are to go on display in London.

More than 450 items from the Netflix show will be on public display at Bonhams from Thursday ahead of an auction on Feb 7.

Online clothes retailer Boohoo is considering closing its Leicester factory, two months after it was subject to a BBC Panorama investigation.

Boohoo said less than 100 employees at the Thurmaston Lane factory may be impacted by the closure and it expects that “some roles will be relocated”.

The Panorama investigation alleged Boohoo had broken promises to make its clothes fairly and was pressuring suppliers to drive prices down.

The clothing retailer said the plans to shut the site was not related to the findings of the Panorama investigation.

A spokesman for Boohoo said:

We opened Thurmaston Lane in January 2022 to support the group in several ways, including manufacturing, printing and training.

As in any retail business, the role of our sites continues to evolve over time and following significant investments at our Sheffield distribution centre and the opening of a new distribution centre in the US, we must now take steps to continue to ensure we are a more efficient, productive and strengthened business.

In November 2023, an investigation by BBC Panorama claimed that an undercover reporter working for the business found employees pressuring suppliers to reduce prices even after deals had been agreed and that Boohoo Group’s Leicester factory had been subcontracting orders to Morocco.

Boohoo said at the time of the Panorama investigation that it “has not shied away from dealing with the problems of the past and we have invested significant time, effort and resource into driving positive change across every aspect of our business and supply chain”.

It added:

We have made a number of improvements, including strengthening the ethical and compliance obligations on those wishing to supply Boohoo, regularly publishing our full list of approved global manufacturers, responsibly exiting from relationships with suppliers where standards are found to have fallen short, supplementing audit processes with regular unannounced checks and more.

That’s all from me today. You’ll be kept up to speed from here on by the intrepid Alex Singleton.

Bitcoin has held near its strongest level since April 2022 on growing anticipation the Securities and Exchange Commission will imminently approve spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF).

Bitcoin stood at $46,846 (£36,836), having scaled a 21-month top of $47,281 in the previous session.

A raft of investment managers on Monday disclosed the fees they plan to charge for their proposed spot bitcoin ETFs, in another step toward approval this week by the US securities regulator.

 eToro global markets strategist Ben Laidler said: “Investor expectations are justifiably high.”

Language learning app Duolingo has cut 10pc of its translators as it replaces them with artificial intelligence (AI).

Our senior technology reporter Matthew Field has the latest:

The app, which has over 500 million registered users, said it had “offboarded” contractors who previously wrote and checked translations for its app. Part of that work will now be performed by AI. 

The job cuts, which impact the company’s contractors, provide one of the clearest indications that a new wave of AI tools threatens to replace jobs once traditionally done by human workers. Bloomberg first reported the cutbacks.

A Duolingo spokesman said: “We just no longer need as many people to do the type of work some of these contractors were doing. Part of that could be attributed to AI.”

Read how Duolingo’s chief executive, Luis von Ahn, has been evangelical about the use of AI for teaching.

The British pound was softer against the dollar on Tuesday but was not far from a five-month high hit late last year on expectations that the Bank of England would cut interest rates later than the Federal Reserve.

The pound was last down 0.2pc against the dollar at $1.27. It hit its highest level since August on December 28 last year at $1.28.

 Bank of America senior G10 rates strategist Kamal Sharma said:

The ultimate test is whether the market is right in its assumption that the Bank of England cuts interest rates five times this year..

The house view is no rate cuts this year but risks are for the easing cycle commencing in the second half of the year.

Markets currently expect the Bank of England to begin cutting interest rates by the May meeting, while the Fed, in contrast, is expected to begin loosening policy as early as March as inflation is stickier in the UK.

Consumer price inflation was at 3.9pc in the UK in November, the highest in the G7 group of countries, although that is down from a peak of 11.1pc in November 2022.

The global economy is on track for a decade of “wasted opportunity” and “broken promises”, the World Bank has warned.

Our senior economics reporter Eir Nolsøe has the details:

Growth in the first half of the 2020s is on course to be the weakest in decades, the Washington-based organisation said.

Economic performance is on track to be even worse than the aftermath of the financial crisis and other downturns since the early 1990s.

The bleak record comes despite hopes the 2020s would prove a transformative period for development and living standards after a “lost” decade in the aftermath of the financial crisis. 

In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said: “The 2020s have so far been a period of broken promises.” 

Read why.

Meta Platforms said it would hide more content from teenagerss on Instagram and Facebook after regulators around the world pressed the social media giant to improve protections for children.

All teenagers will now be placed into the most restrictive content control settings on Instagram and Facebook and additional search terms will be limited on the photo-sharing app, Meta said in a blogpost.

The move will make it more difficult for young people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts when they use features such as Search and Explore on Instagram.

Dozens of US states filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms and Instagram in October, accusing them of fuelling a youth mental health crisis by making their social media platforms addictive.

Meta is also under the microscope in Europe, where the European Commission has sought information on how the social media company protects children from illegal and harmful content.

The main US indexes opened lower with megacaps pressured by rising US Treasury yields as traders scaled back expectations for an early start to interest-rate cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 159.46 points, or 0.4pc, at the open to 37,523.55.

The S&P 500 opened lower by 21.61 points, or 0.5pc, at 4,741.93, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 99.64 points, or 0.7pc, to 14,744.13 at the opening bell.

Europe is having its busiest day ever for primary bond market sales, with demand for government bonds breaking new highs.

A record of at least €43bn (£37bn) of new publicly syndicated debt from financials, corporates and public-sector borrowers is set to price today, with the final total likely to be higher as further deals set their sizes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

At the same time it has been the busiest day for government bond auctions so far this year.

Belgium received €72bn (£61.9bn) in bids for a €7bn sale of 10-year debt, Bloomberg News reported. The bids exceeded the previous record for demand of €55bn. 

Orders for an auction of 20-year UK gilts exceeded the £2.25bn on offer by more than 3.6 times. 

Similarly, Italy’s sale of 30-year debt has so far received record orders in excess of €91bn, currently €1bn more than the prior all-time high set four years ago, while an offering of seven-year securities was oversubscribed more than seven times. 

The US trade gap narrowed in November as imports and exports both fell while higher interest rates bite, the government reported.

Although analysts expected the trade deficit to widen slightly, the gap was smaller than anticipated at $63.2bn (£49.7bn), down from a revised October figure of $64.5bn, the Commerce Department said.

Resilient consumption has supported US trade, but analysts have expected the effect of higher interest rates, as it weighs on demand, to add pressure on imports.

In November, US exports slipped $4.8bn to $253.7bn while imports dropped more, by $6.1bn, to $316.9bn.

Behind the decrease in exports was a fall in goods including $3.6bn less in industrial supplies and materials such as crude oil.

Imports of goods also slipped, on the back of lower consumer goods imports such as those of cell phones and pharmaceutical preparations.

The US goods deficit with China slid $2.4bn to $21.5bn in November, said the report.

The co-owners of Asda have insisted the grocery chain did not intend to make a bigger profit on fuel prices, after an investigation last year found it had bumped up fuel margins during the cost-of-living crisis.

Bosses also doubled down on assertions that there are no gaps in the company’s finances, although admitted there could be confusion over how the business is structured.

TDR Capital, the private equity group which co-owns Asda with billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, was probed by MPs during a Business and Trade Committee session in Parliament.

Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis said Asda was found by the UK competition watchdog to be “one of the leaders in bumping up the price” of fuel, leading competitors to do the same and meaning people were being “ripped off at the pump”.

Gary Lindsay, the managing director of TDR, said: “There wasn’t a particular strategy to bump the price of fuel or to make a larger profit on fuel.”

He also shrugged off the “notion that we were moving profit around between fuel and food”, insisting: “We are incredibly competitive when it comes to price across the business.”

An auction of 20-year UK gilts attracted record demand today as investors race to lock in higher yields before interest rates fall.

The sale of £2.3bn of UK Government bonds attracted £8.1bn of bids, meaning that demand could have been met 3.6 times over.

It comes as investors expect the Bank of England to begin cutting interest rates this year, which will in turn lead to a drop in yields on bond markets.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year UK gilt has climbed five basis points today to 3.82pc but has dropped from highs of 4.51pc in September as expectations for the peak of interest rates has settled.

US stock indexes turned negative in premarket trading after a rally on Monday caused by Nasdaq notching its best day since November.

Wall Street had a strong finish on Monday, as the tech-focused Nasdaq surged more than 2pc, while the benchmark S&P 500 neared its record high set two years ago.

The optimism was driven by a rebound in megacap growth names and semiconductor stocks like Nvidia, which closed at a record high after unveiling new artificial intelligence (AI) components. Nvidia added 0.3pc in early premarket trades.

Focus remains on two sets of December inflation reports due later in the week that might offer clues about the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy trajectory. 

Market participants see a 58pc chance the central bank could cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points in March, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, down from nearly 64pc in the previous session.

In trading before the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 had fallen 0.4pc, while the Nasdaq 100 had dropped 0.6pc.

A general election this year poses a threat to the stability of the bond market if parties race to make excessive spending commitments, the world’s largest asset manager has warned.

Vivek Paul, chief investment strategist for the UK at BlackRock, said the election could lead to the Conservatives or Labour putting forward policies that could unnerve investors.

“As inflation falls in the UK and we get closer to the general election date, major UK political parties may be more tempted to promise looser fiscal policy — the more this occurs, the greater the likelihood of the return of the bond vigilantes,” he told Bloomberg News. 

“In the lead-up to this year’s UK election, we’re watching the fiscal policy stance.”

His comments about bond vigilantes - the term used for investors who sell bonds in protest against policies they consider inflationary - come as UK gilt yields remain well above levels seen before Liz Truss’ ill-fated mini-Budget, which sparked a crisis in the debt market in response to her unfunded spending pledges.

Sir Keir Starmer confirmed this month that spending on net zero pledges would increase to £28bn per year in the second half of the next parliament if Labour wins the next election.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said inheritance tax is “pernicious” as he mulls the possibility of cuts ahead of his Budget in March.

He told the BBC the Conservative Party was prioritising a “more lightly taxed” system in the UK.

Channel 4’s diversity row has deepened after it emerged ministers blocked an ethnic minority woman from joining the broadcaster’s board.

Our media reporter James Warrington has the latest:

Rozina Breen, a former BBC executive, was put forward as a preferred candidate to take up the role of non-executive director by media regulator Ofcom.

But Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who has the final say in the appointments, rejected the move without providing reasons for the decision.

The intervention, first reported by Deadline, will fuel controversy after Channel 4’s chairman raised concerns about the appointment of four white directors on Monday.

Read on for Ms Breen’s comments.

Fund manager Jupiter has plunged to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after it revealed that investors pulled more funds than feared.

The UK asset manager suffered a 15.7pc plunge in its share price after it reported £2.2bn of net client outflows last year, taking its total assets under management to £52.2bn.

Is share price was also impacted by the announcement of the departure of its star manager Ben Whitmore this summer.

Mr Whitmore, a veteran portfolio manager, said he is leaving to pursue his ambition of establishing an independent value equities boutique, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. 

Workers at Amazon’s new warehouse in Birmingham have voted to join ongoing strike action over pay and working conditions, the GMB trade union said.

Workers at the fulfilment will take strike action on January 25, GMB said.

Unemployment in the eurozone fell to a record-equalling low in November despite concerns that the bloc is heading toward a recession.

The jobless rate dropped to 6.4pc from 6.5pc in October, figures from Eurostat showed, equivalent to nearly 11m people in the region of more than 300m.

It means unemployment decreased by 144,000 in the EU over the period and by 99,000 in the eurozone.

Microsoft’s $13bn (£10.2bn) investment into OpenAI could be the subject of a full-blown competition investigation by the EU after the sensational sacking and then rehiring of its chief executive laid bare the close ties between the two companies.

The European Commission said it is examining whether the US tech giant’s investment in the artificial intelligence company would be reviewable under the bloc’s merger rules, following a similar move by the Competition and Markets Authority in Britain.

It could lead to a full investigation into whether the investment should be allowed.

In November, OpenAI’s co-founder Sam Altman agreed to return as chief executive after a power struggle with the ChatGPT-maker’s board, less than five days after his dramatic sacking.

Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s biggest investor, had supported the effort to reinstate Mr Altman. Satya Nadella, the tech giant’s chief, announced the hiring of Mr Altman and OpenAI’s former president Greg Brockman during their brief interregnum.

Oil has bounced back from the largest drop in about a month caused by a deep pricing cut by Saudi Arabia.

Global benchmark Brent traded up 2pc toward $78 a barrel after tumbling by 3.4pc on Monday to unwind all of the previous week’s gains.

US marker West Texas Intermediate was also up 2pc to more than $72. Riyadh reduced its prices more than had been expected, with prices of other Middle Eastern crudes also declining.

Crude is coming off the back of its first annual drop since 2020, with losses driven by rising supplies from outside Opec+ and concerns that demand will slow this year including in top importer China. 

However, the Israel-Hamas war, related attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels, and recent supply outages in Libya have combined to provide some support.

Strong “back-to-school” demand for footwear helped retailer Shoe Zone increase its annual profits by nearly a fifth.

The high street chain, which has 323 shops across the UK, said pre-tax profits jumped by 19.1pc to £16.2m over the 12 months to September 30.

It notched up a 3.9pc rise in sales across its stores, having overhauled its estate under a programme that saw it shut 72 sites, open 35 new shops and revamp 15 outlets to a new-look format.

The group said it would continue to refit and relocate stores over the year ahead, with plans for more “hybrid and big box” large stores, which are located in retail parks.

It so far has 42 big box stores and 93 hybrids and ultimately plans to increase these to around 100 and 200 respectively.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: 

Shoe Zone had a very positive year, with strong and consistent results throughout the key trading periods, particularly in the second half, with strong peak summer and back to school trading.

We continue to accelerate our store refit and relocation programme and to drive our digital strategy on the back of these solid set of results. The hard work completed to reduce costs, streamline operations and accelerate investment, positions us well for the year ahead.

Train services at the UK’s second busiest station have been disrupted for the third day in a row after another infrastructure failure.

Many Great Western Railway (GWR) and Elizabeth line services to and from Paddington are being cancelled or delayed because of a broken rail between the west London station and Reading, Berkshire - a route which has been beset by problems.

Disruption is expected to continue throughout today as fewer trains than normal are able to run on some lines.

The Great Western Main Line - which runs to and from Paddington - has suffered many problems in recent months.

On Sunday, damage to the overhead electric wires caused disruption.

A day later, speed restrictions were imposed due to a broken rail crossing, which is used to transfer trains from one line to another.

German industrial output unexpectedly declined in November, reinforcing concerns that the eurozone has fallen into a recession.

Production declined 0.7pc from October, led by capital goods, and intermediate goods, the statistics office said. 

It was the sixth consecutive drop and comes as economists had expected a 0.3pc increase. 

Manufacturers — Germany’s economic backbone — are struggling from costly energy, higher global interest rates and a slowdown in China. 

EDF plans to extend the life of four of its nuclear reactors as Britain aims to shore up its energy security.

The energy giant manages the UK’s eight nuclear power station sites, of which only five are operational with three defuelling. 

The current fleet of five is scheduled to shrink to just three by the end of 2026. Last year, output slumped to the lowest in more than four decades. 

Bosses are now examining whether the company can extend the lives of its four advanced gas cooled reactors (AGRs) at Hartlepool and Heysham 1, which are scheduled to shut in 2026, and Heysham 2 and Torness, which are due to generate until March 2028. 

The plants will undergo inspections and need regulatory approval.

EDF said: “These AGR lifetimes will be reviewed again by the end of 2024 and the ambition is to generate beyond these current forecasts.”

The company is also considering a 20-year life extension for Sizewell B, from 2035-2055. A decision would be made in 2025.

Despite opening higher, the FTSE 100 was last flat amid a slump in retail stocks after industry data showed shops endured lacklustre sales around Christmas.

The blue-chip index was little changed, while the midcap index FTSE 250 turned downward by 0.4pc.

Retailers were down 0.7pc after BRC figures indicated it was a weak festive period, which may add to concerns that the economy has tipped into a mild recession.

Meanwhile, discount chain B&M shares dropped as much as 2.7pc as underlying sales growth in its main UK business slowed.

Oil and gas shares rose 0.4pc as oil prices steadied after sliding nearly 3pc in the previous session.

Pharma and biotech shares climbed 0.9pc after GSK announced a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) takeover of asthma treatment developer Aiolos Bio.

Hays plummeted as much as 19.1pc to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after it issued a profit warning amid a global slowdown in hiring.

Fujitsu will “quite possibly” have to pay compensation if the inquiry into the Post Office scandal concludes the company has blundered, Mel Stride has said.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said that “it won’t necessarily just be the taxpayer” who is “on the hook for this money”.

He told LBC Radio:

We’ve got this public inquiry under way. One of the things it’s going to look at... is where does culpability lie? 

Who is responsible, who knew what when, who did things they shouldn’t have done and so on?

And to the extent that that culpability rests upon the shoulders of others than Government, then I think you can expect ministers to come to the appropriate conclusions. 

And perhaps it won’t be just the taxpayer that is on the hook for those costs.

However, Mr Stride stopped short of saying Fujitsu should be barred from winning government contracts while the Post Office inquiry is ongoing, telling Times Radio “we need to wait to see what the inquiry decides in terms of culpability”.

Samsung posted its sixth consecutive quarter of falling operating profit amid a slowdown in demand for consumer electronics.

The South Korean tech giant said it expected fourth-quarter operating profit to drop by more than a third to 2.8trillion won (£1.6bn) for the three months to December.

Sales revenue was also seen falling 4.9pc to 67trillion won.

Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone maker and the flagship subsidiary of Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

South Korean chipmakers, led by Samsung, have enjoyed record profits in recent years as prices of their products soared, but the global economic slowdown has dealt a blow to memory chip sales.

Demand swelled during the pandemic as consumers bought computers and smartphones during lockdowns, prompting chipmakers to ramp up production.

But appetite quickly diminished as lockdowns came to an end, and weakened further in the face of soaring inflation and rising interest rates.

Japan’s stocks closed higher on the back of gains in US tech stocks, pushing the Nikkei index to a 33-year high.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.2pc, or 385.76 points, to end at 33,763.18, while the broader Topix index added 0.8pc, or 19.55 points, to 2,413.09.

The Nikkei climbed to its highest level since March 1990 as overnight, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index on Wall Street surged 2.2pc.

Sony Group gained 1.3pc to 13,340 yen while Nintendo soared 4.3pc to 6,538 yen.

The FTSE 100 has begun the day higher following a bounce in Asian markets triggered by a tech rally on Wall Street.

The UK’s blue chip index gained 0.2pc after the open to 7,712.57 while the midcap FTSE 250 was 0.1pc higher at 19,412.77.

Recruitment firm Hays has warned over profits after a “difficult” December as jobs markets in the UK and worldwide slowed down.

The group cut its workforce as it ramped up cost-saving efforts to offset a “clear slowdown” across most of its markets last month, with firms and job seekers holding off from making decisions on roles.

It said its group consultant numbers were 5pc lower during the final three months of 2023 and were down 12pc year-on-year, while it also axed non-consultant roles, with a 3pc reduction in those teams during the quarter.

Hays said group fees slumped 15pc last month and were 10pc lower overall in the quarter.

It now expects first-half underlying operating profits of around £60m.

Analysts had been expecting earnings of around £73m for the half-year.

Chief executive Dirk Hahn said: “Overall market conditions became increasingly challenging through the quarter, including a clear slowdown in most markets in December, notably in our permanent businesses as client and candidate decision-making slowed.”

Discount retailer B&M has reported a rise in sales over the key festive quarter although it witnessed a slowdown in growth.

The B&M European Value Retail group revealed that revenues increased by 5pc to £1.7bn over the 13 weeks to December 23.

It said this means revenues grew by 8.1pc, on a constant currency basis, over the first nine months of the financial year, after growth eased back.

Alex Russo, chief executive of the group, said: 

The performance across the ‘golden quarter’ has been pleasing, with strong operational execution across the three businesses.

Our strategy remains unchanged - we are an everyday low-price discounter with a laser-focus in keeping excellence in retail standards and our costs the lowest.

This allows us to provide our products at the best price to all customers, many of whom continue to face significant cost-of-living pressures.

Games Workshop was already riding high from the announcement of agreements with Amazon to develop its Warhammer series into films and TV series.

Today the company continued its status as one of the London Stock Exchange’s standout performers with half-year records for revenues, profits and dividends.

The retailer, which runs more than 520 stores at which it sells Warhammer figurines across more than 20 countries, increased revenues by 9pc to £247.7m in the six months to November 26, and boosted pre-tax profits by 14pc to £95.2m.

However, investors will keep a watchful eye on who will become the company’s next chief financial officer after Rachel Tongue announced she will step down from the roll after 27 years with the business, nine of which were on the board.

Games Workshop chief executive Kevin Rountree said:

Games Workshop and the Warhammer hobby are in great shape. 

We continue to perform well during challenging economic times, delivering record group revenue, profit and dividends in the period. 

Morale is good at Games Workshop and our hobbyists are having fun too.

Drugs giant GSK has announced it will buy asthma specialist Aiolos Bio in a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) deal.

The Anglo-Swedish corporation said the acquisition would give it access to a potentially “best in class” new medicine, which could redefine the standard of care with dosing every six months.

The treatment, named AIO-001, is ready to enter phase II clinical development for the treatment of adult patients with asthma, with potential for additional uses for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. 

GSK will pay $1bn up front for the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, with a further $400m paid if regulatory milestones are met.

AIO-001 was exclusively licensed to Aiolos outside of Greater China by Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals.

GSK chief scientific officer Tony Wood said: 

We have a proud heritage and deep development expertise in respiratory medicines, especially addressing diseases driven by IL-5 with high levels of eosinophils or high T2 inflammation. 

Adding AIO-001, a potentially best-in-class medicine targeting the TSLP pathway, could expand the reach of our current respiratory biologics portfolio, including to the 40pc of severe asthma patients with low T2 inflammation where treatment options are still needed.

Retailers endured a disappointing Christmas, new data shows, as families “battened down the hatches” amid cost of living pressures.

Sales grew by just 1.7pc in December compared to a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said, despite inflation likely being at least twice as high. It suggests people bought a lower volume of things from shops than they did a year earlier.

Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, said it was an underwhelming end to a difficult year for shop owners.

Ms Dickinson said: “The festive period failed to make amends for a challenging year of sluggish retail sales growth, as weak consumer confidence continued to hold back spending.”

Retailers reported disappointing sales of typical gift items like clothes, jewellery and gadgets.

Separate figures from Barclays show spend on clothing fell by 2pc in December, while overall retail spend increased by only 0.6pc.

Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said: “As we start a new year, cautious consumers are battening down the hatches and retailers can expect to see significant downward pressures on demand in the opening months of this year.”

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson warned that disruption to shipments through the Red Sea from conflict in the Middle East meant retailers were also facing a difficult start to the new year.

Ms Dickinson said: “2024 looks to be another challenging year for retailers and their customers, and spending will continue to be constrained by high living costs. Retailers will also have to juggle various cost pressures, including the rise to business rates this April.”

Restaurants are suffering as well as retailers, Barclays data showed.

Total card spending in restaurants fell by 8.8pc, while the number of transactions dropped by 13.1pc, according to the bank’s consumer card data.

Simon Stenning, founder of The Future of Foodservice, a consultancy, said: “Whether households are renting or they have a mortgage, their disposable incomes have been dramatically affected and that has naturally meant there has been a reduced frequency of eating out.” 

Retail sales were a disappointment over Christmas, according to the latest industry figures, as weak confidence held back consumer spending.

Sales grew by just 1.7pc in December compared to the previous year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), despite inflation likely being twice as high.

5 things to start your day 

1) Why Apple faces its biggest crisis since the launch of the iPod | Investors are increasingly jittery as company’s share price slides and sales fall

2) British Land Rover smartphone maker on brink of collapse | Impending insolvency comes as Bullitt grapples with a growing debt pile

3) Netflix scraps 100 shows following writers’ strike and cut-backs | Streaming giant is prioritising quality over quantity in bid to draw in more subscribers

4) Fitness First struggles to attract new members as home working hits central London gyms | Difficulties come as many Londoners continue to work several days a week from home

5) Ben Wright: The FTSE 100 is in ruder health than doomsters would have you believe | Proposals to reverse London market’s fortune confuse its structural and cyclical problems

What happened overnight 

Asian stocks advanced after a tech-led rally on Wall Street as investors look to the next set of US inflation numbers due this week, which could provide further clarity on when the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates.

Australian shares were up just shy of 1pc, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index was trading 1.1pc higher. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 bounced higher after November retail sales posted the biggest monthly gain in two years and comfortably topped analyst estimates.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.3pc while China’s bluechip CSI300 Index gained 0.2pc after earlier trading in negative territory.

Wall Street rallied Monday to regain almost all the losses from its sluggish start to the year.

The positive sentiment comes after Nvidia rose 6.4pc following the unveiling of several AI-related products. Apple, meanwhile, rose 2.4pc to bounce back from its worst week since September. They were the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500, along with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.

The S&P 500 rose 1.4pc to within 0.7pc of its all-time high set two years ago. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite index, which is skewed towards technology compares, closed 2.2pc higher for its best day for two months, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading American companies had a more modest gain of 0.6pc, curbed by a 6.9pc decline at Boeing.

Yields of US Treasury bonds fell ahead of a new supply of government debt this week, with the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield hitting a low of 3.966pc after starting the day at 4.046pc.