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4.30pm: London market higher

The FTSE 100 closed 28 points higher at 7,864.71, helped by strong results from oil major BP, which climbed 7%.

Shell – which announced bumper profit of its own last week – finished 2.3% higher in a positive read-across.

Brent oil was quoted at $82.75 a barrel at the London equities close, up sharply from $79.90 late Monday.

Banks also performed strongly. Barclays added 1.5%, HSBC 1.4%, Lloyds 1.4%, and NatWest 1%.

Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4%, the S&P 500 index down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% higher.

7am: BP cuts emissions target after record profits

BP risked a further backlash after revealing that it will scale back its climate change targets despite doubling annual profits to a record $27.7 billion (2021: $12.8bn).

Full story here

7am: Brooks Macdonald chair resigns

Brooks Macdonald has announced that chairman Alan Carruthers has resigned because of continuing health issues to give him time to fully recuperate fully.

Senior independent director Richard Price will assume the role of acting chairman.

Mr Price said: “We are all deeply sorry that Alan is leaving Brooks Macdonald in these circumstances and we wish him a full and speedy recovery. 

“Under Alan’s chairmanship the group has built real momentum towards our ambitious growth plans and I am confident those plans will continue to be executed successfully by Andrew Shepherd and his management team.”

7am: Mattioli Woods

Wealth manager Mattioli Woods said profit before tax for the six months to the end of November rose 45.5% to £4.8m (1H22: £3.3m) on a 10% rise in revenue to £54.9m (1H22: £49.9m).

There was a positive performance in pension advice and administration, employee benefits, property management and private equity management operating segments.

Acquisitions, Maven Capital Partners and Ludlow, contributed £20.2m (1H22: £19.4m) of revenue in the period and continue to deliver revenue synergies.

An interim dividend of 8.8p has been declared (1H22: 8.3p).

Gross discretionary assets under management came in at £4.9bn, a 4% decrease in the period, with gross inflows of £314.1m (1H22: £384.8m) and net inflows 0.8% of opening AuM.

Global markets

Analysts were expecting London to open higher, reversing yesterday’s fall, despite data showing UK retail sales slowed last month,

Sales rose by 4.2% on-year in January, markedly down from 12% a year earlier, according to the latest British Retail Consortium-KPMG tracker.

“Consumers have started the year with a tight rein on spending as they face another period of rising costs,” KPMG analyst Paul Martin commented.

Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.0%.