(Alliance News) - The UK economy registered a surprise decline at the start of the year, numbers on Friday showed, with minor growth in the service sector more than offset by decline elsewhere. The ...

(Alliance News) - The UK foreign secretary has said it would be "wrong" for Vladimir Putin to place conditions on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. David Lammy said a pause in fighting would be ...

In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.7%, while the Hang Seng Index jumped 2.4%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.8%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5%.

The trust saw its discount narrow to 46.2% from 63.6%, as its share price improved to 54.4p from 34.4p. Its shares closed up 4.2% at 55.00p on Thursday in London.