Gasoline hits 140p a liter for the first time since 2012

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A crucial cable carrying electricity from France to Britain will not be fully operational again until October 2023, adding pressure on the UK’s power sector.

The 2,000-megawatt cable, known as IFA-1, will be restarted at half capacity later this month, but the other half won’t start returning until October 2022 — seven months later than originally expected.

A fire at a substation in Kent left 1,000 megawatts unavailable this winter. The cable operator will make a total of 1,500 MW available for the next winter before reducing capacity to 1,000 MW during the summer before a full return in October 2023.

The national grid said there will be “adequate levels” of generation and interconnection imports throughout the winter. In its Winter Outlook, it said higher energy prices in the UK should mean electricity imports from continental Europe at peak times.

5 things to start your day

1) Energy companies accused of increasing direct debt

Service providers are increasing monthly payments to customers while battling rising energy supply costs

2) £2.8 billion HS2 contract ‘shrouded in mystery’, says Siemens lawsuit

HS2 chiefs have been accused by Siemens Mobility of serious failures after they backed a competing bid from Hitachi and Bombardier.

3) Transport set freezing outside Whitehall after ‘kidnapped by Remainers’

Ministers are avoiding the Road Transport Association over allegations that it has caused a gasoline crisis.

4) Shortages will continue for another year, warns IKEA

Supply chain issues show no signs of easing at the retailer as chaos across logistics continues to grip businesses

5) Microsoft shuts down LinkedIn operations in China

The social network has stopped serving in the country, with Microsoft blaming demands for censorship in Beijing.

What happened overnight

Asian stocks rose on Friday, buoyed by a strong day’s embers on Wall Street that also supported risk-friendly currencies and hurt the safe-haven currency, although concerns about the Chinese economy capped gains.

Oil prices are also back to test new multi-year highs, which is a drag on growth in North Asian energy import markets, but there is good news for Southeast Asian energy export markets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up 0.6%, and Japan’s Nikkei is up 1.08%.

Chinese blue chips tumbled shortly after the bell, but settled last, while Hong Kong stocks bounced back from a one-day break to open higher. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.90 percent, or 224.46 points, to 25,187.05 points.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.18 percent, or 6.29 points, to 3,551.99 points, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second bourse fell 0.35 percent, or 8.50 points, to 2,390.76.

Coming today

Interim results

Mediclinic

Trading Update

Rio Tinto, Pearson, Hargreaves Lansdowne, Jupiter Fund Management, Schroders

economics

Retail Sales (US, China), Consumer Confidence (US), Trade Balance (EU)

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