Good morning.
VTB, Russia’s second biggest bank, is set to become the latest victim of western sanctions.
Its UK division is due to appear in a London court today, where it will ask the judge to order a so-called special administration, Bloomberg reports.
It comes after a court ordered the UK unit of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank to be wound down, while Sova Capital, a London-based broker controlled by Russian banker Roman Avdeev, entered special administration last month.
Special administration is a form of insolvency that shields the wider market from the collapse. Gazprom’s UK business narrowly avoided this fate after Germany took control of the gas giant’s subsidiary.
5 things to start your day
1) Taxpayer pumps £400m into hydrogen as ministers strive to hit net zero targets The hydrogen technology is expected to offer a low-carbon means of powering HGVs and trains
2) Uber adds plane and train tickets to its app Ride-hailing app aims to become a ‘one-stop shop’ for transport booking
3) ‘The point of Channel 4 is to be risk-taking’: why a sale could backfire Unshackling the broadcaster from public ownership could allow it to compete with the likes of Netflix
4) Biden faces a recession as he heads into election year, warns Deutsche Bank The Federal Reserve is set to aggressively lift interest rates to curb the strongest inflation in 40 years
5) P&O Ferries tells customers to stay away from Dover over Easter Services on rival operators are fully booked, meaning they cannot cope with those now unable to travel on P&O
What happened overnight
Asian share markets slipped on Wednesday as investors faced up to the possibility of aggressive monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation, while focus was also on new Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
In morning trade in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei shed nearly 2pc, while South Korean shares fell 0.9pc and Australian shares lost 0.75pc.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 1.3pc. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.3pc, moving away from a one-month high hit on Monday.
Shanghai lost 0.1pc as markets in mainland China reopened after two days of public holidays.
Coming up today
- Corporate: Hilton Food Group, Lookers (full-year results); Hyve Group, Imperial Brands, Motorpoint, Topps Tiles (trading update)
- Economics: Construction PMI (UK), producer price index (EU), FOMC minutes (US)
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