The embattled supermarket said its lenders had agreed to a £155m top-up of funds on an existing loan, which is due for repayment 2031, to help pay off more pressing debts falling due over the next 24 months.

Along with £155m of cash from its balance sheet, Asda will use the proceeds of the loan to pay off £310m of debt maturing in 2025 and 2026.

Asda, which is co-owned by TDR Capital and billionaire entrepreneur Mohsin Issa, said this meant it no longer had any debts which are due this decade.

The move to secure some breathing space comes just days after Asda came under scrutiny over its high debt levels. Its debt pile is currently around £6bn, which meant it paid £441m in finance costs last year alone.

In a note issued last week, credit rating agency Fitch issued a warning over looming debt repayments facing the supermarket, coming at a time when sales have been declining.

Read the full story...

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05:43 PM GMT

Trump picks Gail Slater to lead Justice Department’s antitrust division

Donald Trump has tapped Gail Slater, an competition law veteran and JD Vance economic adviser, to lead the Department of Justice’s antitrust division and take charge of a full docket of blockbuster monopoly cases tech firms

“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Mr Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.

“I was proud to fight these abuses in my First Term, and our Department of Justice’s antitrust team will continue that work under Gail’s leadership,” he wrote, adding that she would also “ensure that our competition laws are enforced, both vigorously and FAIRLY, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our greatest companies.”

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05:27 PM GMT

Germany’s Dax closes above 20,000 mark

German stocks hit an all-time high and fished above the 20,000 mark on a mostly positive day for European stocks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed higher by 0.3pc and notched its fifth day of advances, with retail stocks leading sectoral advances by 2.2pc.

France’s Cac 40 closed up 0.6pc as the debate on the no-confidence motion was underway ahead of the vote due this evening.

Mr Barnier’s three-month old fragile government is expected to be forced out at a time when the country is struggling to tame a massive budget deficit, and French president Emmanuel Macron said he aims to install a new prime minister quickly if his government falls.

“There is clearly a decent level of uncertainty and division within France around the right way forward,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

“Whatever budget gets eventually put forward, or even whether (the current budget) is rolled over, the challenge of resolving these fiscal and debt dynamics is that it is a multi-year process.”

Political chaos in France has weighed on the CAC 40 which is down over 3pc this year and is the top decliner among peers. The euro has lost over 4pc this year, while spreads between French and German bonds have widened to a 12-year high.

On Tuesday, Germany’s DAX rose 1pc and closed above the 20,000-point mark for the first time, boosted by SAP’s 3.7pc advance.

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05:24 PM GMT

London stock market exodus hits worst level in 14 years

The number of companies leaving the London Stock Exchange due to takeovers has hit the highest level for more than a decade amid growing concerns about the UK’s attractiveness to investors.

45 companies have de-listed so far this year due to mergers or acquisitions, the highest since 2010, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg.

It comes as one of the biggest companies on the exchange is facing pressure to quit. Activist investor Palliser Capital has told mining giant Rio Tinto that the FTSE 100 company’s Anglo-Australian structure had cost shareholders $50bn (£39.5bn) and demanded an independent review of the arrangement.

Major deals this year include the sale of video game company Keywords Studios to private equity firm EQT, cybersecurity business Darktrace to Thoma Bravo, and Virgin Money, sold to Nationwide.

A further string of sales are expected to be completed in the coming months, such as the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s takeover of Royal Mail owner IDS and Carlsberg’s purchase of Britvic.

Another deal was announced on Wednesday as digital training company Learning Technologies Group said it had accepted an £802m bid from the US investor General Atlantic.

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05:06 PM GMT

Biden made mistake over Musk, says Clinton

Joe Biden made a mistake in not embracing Elon Musk, former president Bill Clinton has said.

At the New York Times DealBook Summit, Mr Clinton was asked whether Mr Musk’s hostility to Mr Biden. Andrew Ross Sorkin, in the chair, suggested that this was caused by Mr Biden excluding Mr Musk from a White House EV summit in an attempt to please trade unions.

Mr Clinton said it was “all about” that. Mr Clinton suggested to the White House at the time that “it might be worth taking a little heat from the unions because I think that Tesla is one of the most significant contributions to transportation... Not because I thought he would do what he did [but because] our biggest emissions source is still transportation. And I think the Tesla is a great car ... I believed it would be helpful if they were working together.”

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04:54 PM GMT

FTSE 100 closes down

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.3pc.

The top riser was Legal & General, up 6pc, followed by housebuilder Vistry, which rose 5.9pc.

At the other end of the index, AstraZeneca fell 2.9pc, followed by Anglo American, down 2.5pc.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 rose 0.6pc, helped by a rise of 10.7pc by North Sea engineering business John Wood.

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04:50 PM GMT

Bill Clinton defends DEI against backlash

Bill Clinton has defended diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

He told the New York Times Dealbook Summit that the Right “loves” the topic with claims that corporations are hiring people to prove there’re political correct.

“Here’s what I’ve learned,” he said. “I’ve made a huge number of decisions [and] diverse groups make better decisions ... I think you could prove it [with studies]... That’s what DEI is to me... We shouldn’t wuss out about it.”

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04:33 PM GMT

French bonds hold steady ahead of make-or-break vote

A calm spread across French sovereign bonds on Wednesday as investors waited for a vote in France’s parliament on no-confidence motions that look set to topple prime minister Michel Barnier’s government.

French 10-year yields are roughly flat at 2.892pc this afternoon, compared to 2.051pc for German bonds.

Benjamin Schroeder, ING strategist, said: “Overall, we think the current spread levels [between French and German bonds] already reflect quite a bit of pessimism with regards to the French credit outlook, though that itself does not preclude further widening in adverse market conditions and potentially overall lower market liquidity going into the end of the year.”

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04:22 PM GMT

Vauxhall maker can show ‘significant improvement’, says finance chief

Stellantis needs “to build back trust” but there are “very strong reasons to believe” it will improve its profitability next year, the car giant’s finance chief has said.

Bloomberg reported that Doug Ostermann, chief financial officer, said that there were “increasing diversions” between Carlos Tavares, the former chief executive, and the board.

Mr Tavares quit on Sunday. The company, which owns brands including Vauxhall and Jeep, has a sharp drop in car sales and its share price has plunged 43pc since the start of the year.

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04:15 PM GMT

FTSE 100 ‘out of momentum’, says analyst

The FTSE 100 has lost 0.3pc today after a strong couple of weeks.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, said:

The FTSE 100 has enjoyed a decent couple of weeks, but it looks like it has run out of momentum for the moment. A dearth of corporate news isn’t helping matters either. Meanwhile, investors can be forgiven for focusing on France, where the prime minister faces the likely collapse of his government.

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04:01 PM GMT

Trump picks protectionist to be trade advisor

US president-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had picked Peter Navarro to be senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing.

“During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the nomination.

Mr Navarro served as head of a newly created position - director of the White House National Trade Council - in the first Trump administration.

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03:53 PM GMT

OpenAI’s Sam Altman says he is not worried about Musk

The boss of ChatCPT maker OpenAI, Sam Altman, has said he is not worried about Elon Musk using his relationship with Donald Trump to hurt competitors.

In comments at the New York Times DealBook Summit, he said: “It would be profoundly un-American to use political power to the degree that Elon has it to hurt your competitors. I don’t think people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do it.”

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03:47 PM GMT

Vote of no-confidence will hit France’s creditworthiness, says banker

French lawmakers are all but certain to oust the government with a no-confidence motion this evening, plunging the euro zone’s second-biggest economic power deeper into turmoil.

Since Emmanuel Macron, the present, called the election in the summer, France’s Cac 40 has dropped nearly 10pc and is the heaviest loser among top EU economies. The single currency is down nearly 4pc.

Political uncertainty is already hitting France’s services sector, a monthly survey showed.

“The positive signals ... that were seen over the summer, partly due to the Olympics, are now a thing of the past,” Hamburg Commercial Bank economist Tariq Kamal Chaudhry said after seeing the the HCOB purchasing managers’ index for France’s service sector.

Michel Barnier’s draft budget, which angered both the Left and hard Right, had sought to cut the fiscal deficit, which is projected to exceed 6pc of national output this year.

Bond investors are likely to spare France the dire financial “storm” Mr Barnier has warned of, but the fallout from the political crisis will hurt businesses, consumers and taxpayers, economists and experts say.

“This is a slow-burning crisis which will lead to an ongoing widening of spreads and an ongoing deterioration of sovereign creditworthiness,” said Christian Kopf, Union Investment’s head of fixed income and foreign exchange.

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03:38 PM GMT

Growth of US services sector cools in November

Activity in the US services sector grew more slowly in November, according to survey data released this afternoon, while businesses eyed potential new tariffs.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) services index ticked down to 52.1pc in November, from 56.0 percent in October.

But the figure still indicates that activity in the sector is expanding - growing for a fifth month in a row.

“Fourteen industries reported business activity growth, and 13 indicated new orders expansion; both figures are improvements compared to October,” said ISM survey chairman Steve Miller.

“This reinforces the view over the last several months that the services sector has returned to sustained growth,” he added in a statement.

But Mr Miller noted that survey respondents flagged the ramifications of this year’s US presidential election, which will see Republican Donald Trump return to the White House in January.

“Tariffs were mentioned often, with cautionary outlooks related to the potential impact on respondents’ specific industries,” he said.

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03:34 PM GMT

Abolish stamp duty to revive London Stock Exchange, says think tank

Abolishing stamp could help kickstart the London Stock Exchange, a think tank has said.

Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, told The Telegraph:

The number of companies delisting from the UK stock market is 45 so far this year, the highest for a decade. Many point to the 0.5 percent stamp duty on share purchases as a key fact. It is as if the UK were telling businesses to get out.

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03:32 PM GMT

Wall Street rises amid as traders increase bets on rate cuts

Thanks for joining us on the Markets blog. I’m Alex Singleton and will be with you for the rest of the afternoon.

Wall Street stocks have risen this afternoon following lackluster jobs data that raised expectations the US Fed would be keener on interest rate cuts.

Private sector employment grew by 146,000 jobs last month, payroll firm ADP said - lower than the 170,000 figure that analysts expected.

Futures markets now have the odds at more than 75pc that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones are up 0.3pc, while the Nasdaq has jumped 0.8pc.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs yesterday, the latest in a string of records since the US presidential election last month.

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03:25 PM GMT

Biden’s economic ‘paralysis’ is finally over, says hedge fund billionaire

Ken Griffin, the US billionaire investor, has said that “America’s open for business again” after the election of Donald Trump.

Mr Griffin, the founder of the hedge fund Citadel, said that tariffs being threatened by Mr Trump were “not even close to the biggest issue”.

“The biggest issue is that America’s open for business again, the endless amount of regulatory and litigation induced paralysis from the Biden administration is over,” he said at the New York Times Dealbook conference.

He identified Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission which has taken on major tech companies with a string of monopoly lawsuits, as part of the problem.

“The role she played in reducing and eroding American productivity was profound,” he said.

“Tariffs, how much we’re gong to drill, is second order. The first order is we’re back to business.”

Mr Griffin is a major Republican donor but said earlier this year he was not supporting Mr Trump’s presidential bid. However, he said on Wednesday that he had voted for him.

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02:34 PM GMT

US stocks rise as traders await Fed chair comments

US stock markets have opened higher on Wall Street, with tech companies leading the charge.

The S&P 500 has opened up 0.3pc at 6,069.39, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 0.5pc to 44,941.05.

Software company Salesforce is up more than 10pc after it beat analysts’ forecasts.

General Motors’ shares are down slightly after its $5bn China write-off.

Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell is due to speak later today at the New York Times Dealbook summit.

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01:22 PM GMT

Petrol car numbers to halve over next decade

The number of petrol cars on Britain’s roads has peaked and will nearly halve over the next decade amid tough electric vehicle (EV) targets and rationing by manufacturers, according to a new report.

On Wednesday, online marketplace Auto Trader said there were 18.7m petrol cars in use today but predicted this would now steadily fall to 11.1m by 2034.

Over the same period, the company expects a “seismic shift” that will see the number of EVs surge from 1.25m to 13.7m.

Read the full story here

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12:36 PM GMT

General Motors takes $5bn China hit

US carmaking giant General Motors will write down more than $5bn (£3.9bn) on the value of its China business as Western manufacturers continue to struggle against rapidly growing domestic manufacturers such as BYD.

It said on Wednesday that it will cut the value of the stake in its Chinese joint venture by $2.6bn to $2.9bn in its fourth quarter results, as well as taking $2.7bn in restructuring charges.

GM has a 50pc stake in the joint venture with state-owned SAIC under which it sells Cadillac and Buick vehicles.

China is the world’s largest car market but US and European companies are increasingly struggling there as the industy rapidly shifts to electric vehicles, leading to a new breed of domestic car companies.

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12:09 PM GMT

How bankers can dig out low-growth Britain

One beneficiary of the boom in London dealmaking are the capital’s bankers, who could be set for hefty bonuses this year as rules regarding bonuses are eased.

As Michael Bow reports, banks will this year be able to issue bonuses without being limited by the pre-Brexit EU bonus cap, while rules on deferrals are also being relaxed in the coming years.

As one senior banker puts it: “What all of this comes down to is hiring the best people into London. Bonus cap plus deferrals made it harder to lure someone really great from New York.”

It comes as regulators are asked to cut red tape in a bid to boost Britain’s growth.

Read the full piece here

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11:39 AM GMT

FTSE set to break winning streak

As traders approach lunchtime, the FTSE 100 is down 0.25pc, and is on track to break a five-day winning streak that has pushed it closer to an all-time high.

Anglo American, which is under pressure from activists to quit London, is down 2.76pc, although this is likely to be down to falling copper prices. AstraZeneca is also down after analysts at HSBC cut their price target on the stock.

Investment giant Legal & General is leading the risers, up 3.6pc, after it said it was on track to grow profits this year.

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10:59 AM GMT

Online learning group becomes latest London-listed sale

Learning Technologies Group, the London-listed digital training company, has agreed to be sold to a US investor in an £802m deal.

LTG said it had accepted a £1 per share cash bid from General Atlantic, the US private equity giant.

Directors said that “as a private company, LTG will be better positioned and have greater flexibility, in a dynamic and fast changing industry, to invest in the products and technology required to face increasing competition from peers and offset the potentially disruptive impact of AI and other challenges”.

The company provides online learning and training for corporate customers including the BBC and Jaguar Land Rover.

The online education sector has been hit by the rise of artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT, and LTG said this was part of the reason for the sale.

“The impact of these trends on LTG has been to create uncertainty on the outlook and business model across certain aspects of the group and is expected to increase the levels of investment required to capture the opportunities created by AI. Without such levels of investment, the outlook for LTG would be more uncertain,” it said.

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10:03 AM GMT

Investor: London listing has been ‘unmitigated failure’

Palliser Capital has been fighting for months to convince Rio Tinto to leave London, and today’s pressure comes amid an investor seminar from the company.

Its letter today reads:

Rio Tinto’s dual-listed companies structure has proved to be an unmitigated failure for shareholders and requires urgent unification into a single Australian-domiciled holding company.

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09:48 AM GMT

Journalists strike outside Guardian offices

Staff at the Guardian and Observer are holding a 48-hour strike over the proposed sale of the Observer to start-up Tortoise Media.

Journalists have been warned not to “intimidate” those crossing the picket line. Reporters will be able to file stories anonymously and the Guardian has a hybrid working policy, meaning staff may be able to work without colleagues knowing.

Here is the scene outside the offices today:

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09:10 AM GMT

OECD: Budget will mean inflation higher for longer

Rachel Reeves’s budget is likely to keep inflation and interest rates higher for longer as debt-fuelled growth pushes up prices, according to the OECD, Szu Ping Chan reports.

The Paris-based organisation also warned that benefit reforms were crucial to getting more people back to work as it highlighted that the post-pandemic contraction in Britain’s labour force was more than any other OECD economy bar Costa Rica.

The UK enjoyed the biggest upgrade in the club of major advanced economies, with the OECD now predicting growth of 0.9pc this year and 1.7pc in 2025, up from 0.4pc and 1pc in May. However, it said this growth was largely driven by a “large increase in public expenditure” that would push debt up permanently.

Growth in 2026 is expected to slow to 1.3pc, even as interest rates fall, while public debt is expected to remain at “100pc of GDP and rising”.

While the OECD expects interest rates to fall to 3.5pc by the start of 2026, from 4.75pc today, it warned: “Persistent price pressures on the back of the strong increase in government expenditure and uncertainty about the degree of slack in the labour market could require the monetary stance to remain tighter for longer.

“Wage-driven pressures on the price of services and the fiscal stimulus will keep underlying price pressures elevated”, which it said would leave inflation above the Bank of England’s 2pc target for the next two years.

Investors have already reassessed the likely path for British borrowing costs in light of the Budget, with many betting on fewer rate cuts next year. The OECD warned that the UK was almost unique in having a smaller labour force than before the pandemic, with the decline among the biggest in the world.

Read the full story here.

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09:04 AM GMT

Korean stock exchange stems losses after central bank promises support

Despite political chaos in South Korea after the president’s declaration of martial law last night, markets have been calmed subdued after the country’s finance ministry and central bank pledged to support liquidity in markets.

The Kospi composite index, representing all stocks traded on the Korea exchange, closed down 1.44pc on Wednesday, having fallen 2.3pc on the open.

The won is down around 1pc since the disruption began last night, but has recovered. It is trading at 1,415 to the dollar, having traded at 1,444 this morning.

The Bank of Korea said: “As announced together with the government, it has been decided to temporarily supply sufficient liquidity until the financial and foreign exchange markets stabilise.”

It added that “the range of securities eligible for (repo) transactions and the target institutions will be expanded”.

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08:33 AM GMT

Euro falls ahead of French no-confidence vote

Traders in Europe are keeping a close eye on a confidence vote in the French parliament today that could see prime minister Michel Barnier ousted.

The euro has fallen slightly against sterling this morning, with a pound worth £1.207. French bonds have also dipped, with the 10-year yield rising marginally.

Investors are prepared for heavy swings in the single currency. Contracts providing protection against euro moves are in demand, with the volatility premium - a measure of expected swings - at the highest level since Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in June.

French MPs are due to debate confidence motions at around 4pm local time - 3pm in London.

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08:08 AM GMT

Christmas petrol prices at lowest level since lockdown

Families driving home for Christmas will enjoy the cheapest fuel prices since lockdown, new figures show.

Average petrol prices in November were more than 10p per litre cheaper than a year ago, at 136.5p, while diesel prices were down 12p at 142.25p, according to the RAC.

It means the cost of filling up a 55-litre average family petrol car stands at £75, while for a diesel, it is £78.

The figures will come as a boost to households who have been dealing with higher fuel prices for almost three years.

The cost of filling up a diesel car surged past £100 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, said: “Heading up to the most expensive time of year for families, it’s good to see that this Christmas is set to be the cheapest for fuel since the pandemic.”

The RAC noted that month-on-month prices had risen slightly, with petrol up by a penny and diesel rising by two pence.

However, Mr Williams said: “The difference to a year ago is considerable. This is great news for people making long festive journeys to visit friends and families as it should save them around £6 on a tank of fuel compared to last year.”

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07:41 AM GMT

Takeovers of London-listed companies at highest for a decade

The number of London-listed companies leaving the stock exchange due to takeovers is at the highest point for a decade, Bloomberg reports this morning.

45 companies have de-listed so far this year, the highest since 2010.

Major deals include the sale of video game company Keywords Studios to private equity firm EQT, cybersecurity business Darktrace to Thoma Bravo, and Virgin Money, sold to Nationwide.

More sales are expected to be completed in the coming months, such as the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s takeover of Royal Mail owner IDS and Carlsberg’s purchase of Britvic.

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07:17 AM GMT

What you need to know this morning

Good morning. Driving home for Christmas will be the cheapest since Covid, according to new figures, while South Korea’s currency has recovered after President Yoon Suk Yeol rescinded martial law.

5 things to start your day

1. Net zero borrowing binges ‘risk fuelling boom and bust cycles’ | ‘Geoeconomic crises’ risk driving up interest rates just as climate-related spending rises

2. South Western to be first rail company nationalised under Labour | Train companies warn that rushing through public ownership will not benefit customers

3. Shutdown of ageing nuclear plants delayed as net zero stokes blackout fears | Four nuclear stations designed in the 1960s are to be kept open

4. Jeremy Warner: France is teetering on a fiscal cliff edge – its struggles are a warning for the West | Britain looks increasingly like its continental neighbour amid heightened welfarism and political division

5. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The EU has blown it: even Labour now prefers a trade deal with America | The bloc must tear up its post-Brexit script or risk letting the US swoop in and carry Britain away

What happened overnight

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out record closing highs, with tech-related shares extending recent gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2pc, to close at 44,705.53, the S&P 500 gained 0.1pc, to 6,049.88, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4pc, to end the day at 19,480.91.

In the bond market, US Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed US employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 4.23pc from 4.20pc from late on Monday.

In Asia on Wednesday, South Korea’s currency recovered while its stocks fell in early trading after President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law amid a political tussle, before moving to rescind the decree just hours later.

The won gained as much as 1.6pc to 1,406.35 per dollar, to erase nearly all of its overnight loss. The equity benchmark Kospi slid as much as 2.3pc. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co., the nation’s largest company, tumbled 3pc.

Bank of Korea’s monetary board, which unexpectedly cut the key interest rate last week, convened an extraordinary meeting to discuss steps to shield the economy and markets.

Korean assets have been among the world’s worst performers amid China’s economic malaise and Donald Trump’s threats of sweeping trade tariffs after his US election win. The won has slumped almost 9pc against the dollar this year, the worst performer among Asian currencies, while the Kospi has dropped about 8pc.

Authorities have pledged efforts to support the won as market volatility increases.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s bureau of statistics released data showing gross domestic product advanced 0.3pc from the previous quarter, below economists’ estimate for a 0.5pc increase, From a year earlier, the economy grew 0.8pc compared with a forecast 1.1pc.

Growth was driven by public sector expenditure with government consumption and public investment both contributing, Katherine Keenan, Australian Bureau of Statistics head of National Accounts, said in a statement. GDP per capita slid for a seventh consecutive quarter, she added.

The Australian dollar fell 0.3pc, while policy sensitive three-year bond yields pared their gains after the data. Swaps traders boosted bets on a rate cut at the RBA’s April meeting to about a 71pc chance, up from around 60pc yesterday.