Acacia Mining has hit back at its biggest shareholder Barrick Gold, promising a detailed response to claims that its mine plans are not appropriately risked or supportable.

Signs of further stimulus from the European Central Bank and hopes for progress in the trade dispute between the US and China supported stock markets on Wednesday, with attention turning towards the Federal Reserve.

Berkeley Group is looking beyond its traditional London stomping ground, as political and economic uncertainty continue to weigh on the capital’s housing market. 

The chief investment officer of the listed property group Capital & Counties is to leave the company as it prepares for a potential demerger of its large-scale Earls Court development site.

FTSE 250 bank CYBG will begin retiring the 175-year-old Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank brands and rename itself Virgin Money UK by the end of this year, as part of a push to significantly speed up its growth and raise returns by almost a fifth in the next three years.

Royal London, the UK’s biggest mutual life insurer, has ended a six month search for a new chief executive by appointing former Prudential and Standard Life executive Barry O’Dwyer to the role.

Whitbread, the leisure group behind Premier Inn, suffered from a sharp deterioration in business travel due to Brexit and fears of a downturn leading to a decline in like-for-like accommodation sales that was worse than the rest of the market.

Saga, the specialist in products for the over-50s, said that it was making good progress with its new fixed price motor insurance, but warned that conditions in its travel markets were challenging.

A rocket hit an area of Basra, Iraq’s oil and gas hub, that houses several global oil companies on Wednesday morning, coming amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.

Nomura shares jumped on Wednesday after the Japanese investment bank and brokerage announced plans for a share buyback ahead of a potentially fractious shareholder meeting next week. 

The slump in Japanese exports accelerated during May on the back of an escalation in global trade tensions and the effects of a lengthy holiday to mark the ascension of a new emperor. 

Adobe on Tuesday reported upbeat quarterly results driven by strength in its digital media unit, which includes its creative cloud and photo shop products, but delivered a soft outlook for the current quarter.

The whiff of fresh stimulus from the European Central Bank and renewed hopes for an end to the trade war propped up stocks and left the S&P 500 within 1 per cent of its closing high.

JPMorgan Chase’s asset management chief Chris Willcox is retiring and will be replaced by senior executive George Gatch.

Stocks and government bonds rallied on Tuesday after President Donald Trump fuelled hopes for a trade deal with China and Mario Draghi offered markets the clearest indication yet that the European Central Bank is ready to launch another round of stimulus if needed.

Tech start-up Babylon has announced that GP at Hand, its video consultation and AI chatbot app, will go live in Birmingham on Wednesday, marking the start of a national rollout of the London-based digital health service.

The UK and Italy will jointly bid to host the UN climate talks next year, signalling the UK is likely to play a leading role in climate diplomacy as president of the 2020 dialogue.

Oil prices jumped on Tuesday, with investor sentiment boosted by dovish comments from the European Central Bank president and potential sign of progress in US-China trade relations.

Brussels has warned Switzerland it will cut off the country’s stock traders from EU markets at the end of the month, saying it will not tolerate any “watering down” of the single market’s rules during a “decisive” phase in the Brexit talks.

Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president, hit back at criticism from President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, insisting the ECB was simply fulfilling its mandate and not engaged in currency manipulation to drive the euro down.

Semiconductor stocks filled the highest ranks of the S&P 500’s top performers after a “very good telephone conversation” between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping spurred investor hopes for an end to the US-China trade war that may help revive prospects for the sector.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said he had an “open mind” to Libra, the new digital currency backed by Facebook, but there would be no “open door” to its launch and it would have to meet the “highest standards”.

The asset management arm of Australian investment bank Macquarie has raised €6bn to pursue deals in infrastructure in Europe, people familiar with the matter said.

South Africa’s Old Mutual sacked its chief executive over his conflicting interest in a private equity group, adding to the intensifying malaise about the state of corporate governance in Africa’s most industrialised nation.