Britain is on its way out of recession as the economy grows

Thanks for joining me. Britain is on its way out of recession after the economy expanded earlier this year.

According to the Office for National Statistics, gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.2 percent in January.

5 things to start your day

1) Morrisons posts £1bn loss on debt interest payments | Interest costs of £735 million helped push the retailer further into the red

2) Britain's unemployment crisis is being fueled by young people, officials warn | Nearly three million under-25s are out of the job market, the latest figures show

3) Millions of households face a £200 rise in energy bills | The UK's energy security is costing consumers £5bn through gas-fired power stations

4) Porsche has warned that a push into electric cars will boost profits | Automaker faces 'challenging year' as EV sales fall short of target

5) Ambrose Evans Pritchard: Nuclear fusion for the grid is coming sooner than you think | Britain is on the brink of gold in the race for unlimited energy

What happened overnight

Asian stocks were mostly higher, boosted by a record rally on Wall Street led by tech companies.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2pc to 7,729.40. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5 percent to 2,694.60.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.5pc at 17,183.94, while the Shanghai Composite was almost unchanged, less than 0.1pc at 3,054.28.

Tokyo shares pared earlier gains, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index losing 0.3pc, or 101.54 points, to 38,695.97, while the broader TOPICS index fell 0.3pc, or 8.73 points, to 2,51.648.

Tim Waters, chief market analyst at KCM Trading, said: „The yen has made significant gains on greenback terms, focusing on the upcoming spring wage talks known as 'Shunto', the outcome of which could affect the Bank of Japan. The option of when to end the policy of negative interest rates.”

U.S. stocks hit new records yesterday, buoyed by tech companies. The S&P 500 rose 1.1pc last week to 5,175.27. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.6 percent to 39,005.49, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5 percent to 16,265.64.

In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury rose to 4.15pc from 4.10pc late on Monday.