The prospect of supply disruption due to tougher Russian sanctions sent oil prices higher today, with Brent crude at close to $110 a barrel.

Europe’s calls for further restrictions on Russian oil and coal are in response to the reported atrocities in northern Ukraine.

Shares in Europe have experienced a subdued start to the week, although US markets were higher last night following Elon Musk’s purchase of a 9% stake in social media platform Twitter.

FTSE 100 Live 05 April

• Elon Musk joins Twitter’s board

• Oil price higher on Russian sanctions threat

• ITV seen as possible Channel 4 buyer

• FTSE 100 lower, Go-Ahead review boosts shares

FTSE flat as Twitter soars

14:47 , Oscar Williams-Grut

The FTSE is more or less flat - up 7 points - in afternoon trade in what has been a quiet session for the London markets.

The big news is on the other side of the Atlantic where Elon Musk has joined the board of Twitter, a day after taking a $2.9 billion. Shares in Twitter have opened up 8% on Wall Street.

Neil Wilson at Markets.com says: “Limit on his holding for next two years takes any notion that Musk would bid for the entire company off the table for now. But a take-private move is an option.”

Twitter CEO says Musk can add ‘value’

13:54 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has used his own service to announce Elon Musk’s appointment to the Twitter board, saying the billionaire will add value

“Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” he tweeted. “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!”

Musk replied: “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

Elon Musk joins Twitter board

13:33 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Elon Musk has joined the board of Twitter, a day after taking a $2.9 billion stake in the business.

Filings just published show that Twitter struck a deal with Musk yesterday to appoint him to the board. Under the terms of the deal, he will limit his stake in the company to 14.9%. Musk’s purchase on Monday took his holding to 9%.

Shares are up 5% in the pre-market, following a 27% jump on Monday.

Medical cannabis company strikes distribution deal

12:23 , Simon Read

The LSE’s only listed medical cannabis company MGC Pharma said a deal with Dutch firm Sciencus Rare could see two of its CBD-based treatments distributed across Europe for the first time.

One is designed to treat drug-resistant epilepsy and the other treats dementia and Alzheimer’s. MGC boss Roby Zomer said the four-year deal will “widen patient access to our pharmaceutical products.”

It covers distribution in Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, and the UK.

The epilepsy treatment has previously been made available for distribution and prescription in Ireland in 2019 while the dementia formula is undergoing trials in Australia.

Sciensus provides rare disease medicines through decentralised clinical trials.

Crest Nicholson faces £120 million cladding bill

12:04 , Simon Read

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson said signing up to a government pledge to carry out fire safety works in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster will cost it up to £120 million.

The fresh hit comes on top of £47.8 million already spent by the firm for cladding works in the wake of the fire, which killed 72 people in 2017.

The Government’s new Building Safety Pledge commits developers to guidelines for work on potentially unsafe cladding on buildings.

Crest said the charge from the commitment could be between £80 million and £120 million, although that’s only its “best estimate”.

The Government gave builders until today to sign up to the agreement.

Crest said: “Failing to agree to these new guidelines would carry further consequences … that would impact the group’s ability to operate and trade normally within the housing market”.

“The announcement provides some much-needed clarity around the uncertain cladding issue and negotiations with government,” said Aynsley Lammin at Investec.

Shares fell around 1.5% on the news.

The Works hit by cyber attack

11:47 , Simon Read

Discount stationery and books chain The Works has been forced to shut some shops after being hit by a cyber attack.

It said the security breach caused problems with tills and led to new stock deliveries being temporarily suspended. It also warned of longer delivery times for online orders.

The company — which has 520 stores across the UK — was quick to reassure investors saying the cyber hack would not have a “material adverse impact” on its financial position or forecasts. It said store deliveries “are expected to resume imminently” and its normal online service levels are steadily being reintroduced.

It added that no customers’ payment data should be hit by the attack.

“All debit and credit card payment data are processed securely outside the group’s systems, via accredited third-party networks, and therefore there is no risk that this payment data has been accessed improperly,” it said.

However it admitted it has not yet established “the full extent to which any other data may have been affected”. As a precautionary measure it said it has informed the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Shares fell 7% in early trading before recovering to about 3% down on the day.

Service sector booms despite inflation

11:28 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Soaring inflation failed to derail the UK’s service sector revival last month.

Business activity climbed at the fastest rate in 10 months after the removal of Covid restrictions and the return to offices led to a sharp rebound in customer demand.

However, the war in Ukraine and economic uncertainly led to business optimism falling to its lowest level since October 2020.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK Services PMI climbed to 62.6 in March from 60.5 in February, well ahead of the 50 threshold that signifies growth.

But there are signs that the inflation picture could get worse with many businesses noting that rises in operating costs had yet to be passed on to customers.

Go-Ahead up 6% after review, FTSE 100 lower

10:38 , Graeme Evans

Go-Ahead’s stock market turnaround picked up speed today after its new boss declared an “exciting future” for the rail and bus operator.

Investors liked what they heard from Christian Schreyer as his review promised a return to a pre-Covid dividend policy alongside a medium-term target for £4 billion revenues.

Go-Ahead shares jumped 6% and are now up 65% in the past month, having only resumed trading in February after a difficult period that included a £23.3 million fine for the mishandling of its joint venture Southeastern franchise.

Schreyer, who took the helm in November, said Go-Ahead would “strengthen, digitalise and decarbonise” its operations, which include a fleet of more than 6,000 buses across England and a quarter of buses for Transport for London.

Shares were today trading at 891p but broker Peel Hunt reckons a price of 1570p is possible based on the longer-term upside from efficiencies and stronger growth prospects.

Liberum’s Gerald Khoo also sees Go-Ahead as one of the beneficiaries of the Government’s national bus strategy, which aims to improve services outside the capital.

After yesterday’s first funding announcements, Khoo disclosed a price target of 1040p on Go-Ahead alongside “buy” recommendations for FirstGroup and National Express.

FirstGroup shares were today 2% or 2.5p higher at 114.5p, but falls of more than 5% for Moneysupermarket.com and Darktrace left the FTSE 250 index 17.35 points lower at 21,312.54.

Other second-tier risers included Homeserve, up 21p to 886p after an in-line trading update that included no mention of recent takeover interest from Canada’s Brookfield.

Online greetings cards business Moonpig gained 1.4p to 239.4p as it reported strong trading ahead of Mother’s Day and said revenues to the end of April should be better than hoped at more than £300 million.

The FTSE 100 index was 17.79 points lower at 7541.13, reflecting uncertainty over the possibility of further Russian sanctions.

ITV tipped to buy Channel 4

09:13 , Oscar Williams-Grut

ITV is in “pole position” to buy Channel 4, the City says, after the government fired the starting gun on the sale of the broadcaster.

Roddy Davidson at Shore Capital said this morning Channel 4 would be “of interest to a range of buyers, including overseas players” but ITV was “in pole position in terms of commercial logic.”

Bernstein said in November that ITV’s “strong finish to the year provides the balance sheet headroom for a deal” but flagged possible competition concerns about any deal.

The FTSE 100 broadcaster may also struggle to match the financial firepower of US rivals if Channel 4 attracts overseas interest. Amazon and Netflix are mentioned as potentially interested parties, though they may be put off by the public broadcasting requirements.

FTSE 100 weaker, Pru rallies

08:48 , Graeme Evans

The FTSE 100 index is 17.79 points lower at 7541.13, reflecting a subdued period of trading for European markets.

Prudential is the biggest blue-chip riser with a gain of 1.5% or 17.5p to 1147p, while the insurer’s former UK spin-off M&G leads the fallers board with a decline of 2% or 5.5p to 214.2p.

The FTSE 250 index is down 0.7%, or 156.62 points to 21,173.27, led by Darktrace and Moneysupermarket after falls of 7% and 5% respectively.

Home repairs business Homeserve rallied 2% as it reported trading in line with expectations, while online greetings cards firm Moonpig gained 1% as it said revenues to the end of April should be better than hoped at more than £300 million.

Rate rise outlook boosts Australian dollar

08:11 , Graeme Evans

Australia’s central bank caused a flurry of excitement for currency markets today, despite keeping interest rates at a record low of 0.1%.

The Australian dollar surged 0.7% against the greenback as the Royal Bank of Australia removed the word “patient” in its commentary on reacting to changes in the inflation outlook.

Analysts said this pointed to a move higher in interest rates soon after next month’s federal election.

Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “It’s unlikely the RBA would move before that given concerns about the politics of such a move so near to the vote.

“That said, the delay in acting also points to the folly of its stubbornness in being too dovish early on this year when it became plain that it would probably need to move sooner rather than later.

“The RBA will probably have to go much faster and harder in order to raise the benchmark off the currently pitifully low and inadequate 0.1% in order to catch up, increasing the risks of a policy shock to the economy.”

Tech shares rally, oil price higher

07:49 , Graeme Evans

A rally for technology stocks following Elon Musk’s surprise purchase of a 9% stake in Twitter ensured most global markets started the week on the front foot.

Monday’s positive session for US investors saw the tech-led Nasdaq jump by almost 2% and the S&P 500 by 0.8%. Twitter shares enjoyed their best ever day, rising 27% as it emerged that the world’s richest man had bought a stake worth $2.9 billion (£2,2 billion).

As well as the boost for the social media platform, investors welcomed China’s efforts to prevent the country’s US-traded stocks being delisted. The concession is in response to a vow by US regulators to remove companies unless there’s improved audit disclosure.

Among other tech stocks making progress last night, Tesla rose 6% and Apple and Amazon lifted by more than 2%.

Asian markets also traded higher overnight, although today’s session in Europe is likely to be more subdued as investors focus on the potential for further Russian sanctions.

The FTSE 100 index finished 21 points higher at 7558.9 on Monday and is forecast to open five points higher today.

The threat of more supply disruption due to sanctions meant the price of Brent crude lifted to $109 a barrel, a rise of just under 2%.