French-Israeli billionaire tightens grip on BT
Higher debt interest rates and welfare payments caused the national debt to rise more than expected last month, even as government cut the amount it subsidizes household energy bills.
Public sector net debt came in at £25.6 billion last month, higher than the £19.1 billion expected by economists.
Borrowing was expected to fall as the government stopped paying £67 to households for their energy bills at the end of March.
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What happened overnight?
Asian stock markets were mixed on Tuesday after further talks in Washington over the sovereign debt ended with no deal to avert a potentially serious default.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percentage points to 3,270.46, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6 percentage points to 31,286.70. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.3 percentage points to 19,626.06.
Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.8 percentage points to 2,576.48 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.4 percentage points to 61,963.68.
New Zealand fell while Singapore and Jakarta rose.
Concerns over a potential US default have fueled investor uncertainty about the health of the global economy following interest rate hikes to curb inflation and sensational bank failures in the US and Switzerland.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose less than 0.1 percentage point on Monday as Congress and the White House debated Republican demands to cut social programs in exchange for the government increasing the amount of credit it provides can borrow.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent to 33,286.58 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5 percent to 12,720.78.
In the bond market, the yield on 10-year government bonds rose from 3.68 percent to 3.71 percent. It helps set interest rates on mortgages and other major loans. The two-year yield, which is closer to Fed expectations, rose to 4.32 percent from 4.28 percent.