The Pensions Regulator is asking for new powers to stop final-salary pension schemes being dumped when companies are sold.

Lesley Titcomb would like firms with large pension deficits to be required to inform her if a sale is imminent and powers to intervene if necessary. Read more here

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The value of the rand has fallen by more than 3% following the announcement. that South Africa's finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, is to be prosecuted for fraud allegedly carried out when he was head of the country's tax department. 

Mr Gordhan has described the case as political mischief, but the national prosecutor said there had been no political interference in the decision. Mr Gordhan has a poor relationship with President Jacob Zuma.

In recent months, South Africa has narrowly avoided having its credit rating downgraded to junk status, something Mr Gordhan has been working had to avert. 

With this short sentence Samsung confirmed to the BBC it was ceasing to make the troubled Note 7 smartphone.  

"Samsung permanently discontinues the production of the Galaxy Note7."    

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Ride-sharing app Uber more than doubled its UK revenues and profits last year.

The company cornered a bigger share of the taxi market.

It had a turnover of £23.3m in the year to December 2015, up from £11.3m in 2014, according to accounts filed by its UK holding company Uber London. 

Profits also rocketed 106% to £1.83m, compared with £888,436 in 2014. The company paid. £410,851 in corporation tax. 

"This has been a period of rapid investment for Uber in the UK, expanding from just three cities at the start of last year to more than 20 today," said an Uber spokesman. 

"While we recorded a profit here last year, globally we make a loss as we are a young company that is still expanding and investing heavily," they added.

Leisha Chi
Business reporter in Singapore

Samsung's safety scandal has dragged down the shares of other technology companies in Asian trade.

The South Korean tech giant has just announced it is ending production of the Galaxy Note 7. All sales of the device have been halted and customers are being advised to keep the device switched off.  

Samsung fell 8% in Seoul on Tuesday, marking its biggest intraday loss since the financial crisis, and wiping out around $17bn in market value. The benchmark Kospi lost 1.2%.

Other major losers include its Taiwanese suppliers Radiant Opto-Electronics, which tumbled more than 6% and HannsTouch Solution, which lost nearly 10%.

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Sterling is currently down 0.6% at $1.2292. 

Deutsche Bank strategist George Saravelos has been predicting a slide to $1.15 since last year and says the pound might now get there faster. 

"If you look at yesterday or the day before, it can go very quickly now. The basis for our forecast was the very bad flow picture in the UK, even without Brexit. The more it becomes clear that the policy direction is going toward a hard Brexit and the faster the economic costs appear, the faster we are going to get there." 

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Chairman of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, John Nelson, says Britain's financial services sector will be severly damaged if Brexit is mishandled. "The ecosystem that we have, that is so massively valuable to the economy ... is at a cusp if Brexit is mishandled," he told a conference in London. 

"It won't disappear, but it will have significant impact on the London insurance market." 

Last month Mr Nelson said Lloyd's of London would have a plan ready to move some business to the EU by the time Article 50 is triggered, if the UK loses access to the single European market. 

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Samsung said it has stopped making Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to consumer safety concerns.

The company is expected to permanently end selling the device, a person familiar with the matter said.

Samsung did not comment further.   

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Getting the best deal for the City of London will be an "absolute priority" in Brexit trade talks with the European Union, financial services minister Simon Kirby said. 

Banks are worried that their ability to offer services across the EU from London will end after Brexit, crimping the City of London's role as the world's top financial centre. 

Mr Kirby said maintaining London as a top financial centre was a top priority - including the ability for banks to hire top talent from across the world. 

"Can the UK still be one of the best financial centres anywhere in the world, even if we're outside the EU? Well, let me say this is an absolute priority for this government," he told a conference. 

The minister also urged the financial sector to talk with the government in a spirit of "constructive collaboration", adding: "We will listen to you."      

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Grocery sales rose at their fastest pace since 2013 in the three months to September as supermarket price wars and an Indian summer gave food retailers a boost. 

The latest British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey showed food sales rose 1.6% between July and September compared with the same period last year - three times the average 12-month rate of 0.5%. 

Paul Martin, head of retail at KPMG, said: "Late summer temperatures combined with shoppers continuing to benefit from the ongoing price war has meant food and drink sales have been in the black for a full quarter - undoubtedly welcome news for the sector."

However, non-food sales rose just 0.5% over the past three months, compared with the 12-month average growth rate of 1.3%. 

Overall, total UK retail sales grew 1% - the weakest 12-month growth average since BRC-KPMG records began in 1995. 

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Brent crude is flat at $53.08 today and BP chief executive Bob Dudley has told the World Energy Congress Istanbul he expects global oil prices to stabilise at between $55 and $70 a barrel for the rest of the decade. 

Speaking of BP, it has abandoned plans to drill for oil and gas off the south coast of Australia, saying it can get better value for its exploration spending elsewhere. 

Environmental groups had strongly opposed drilling in the Great Australian Bight, off South Australia, saying it would damage whale and sea lion breeding grounds, a haven for dolphins, and important fisheries. 

Shares in BP have had a rather good run this year and are up almost 40% to 495.5p.

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Samsung has stopped sales of its Galaxy Note 7 and told users to turn them off.

The bungled recall has turned into a fiasco for the world's largest smartphone maker.

As the South Korean company scrambles to contain the crisis, click here for the developments so far.

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Neil Wilson of ETX Capital says volatility in the pound continues to be the main story in the forex markets.

Sterling "crashed through the $1.23 handle to around 1.2284, its lowest level since last week’s gyrations. It’s not unreasonable to think that ferocious flash crash was just a very tentative toe in the water and the pound is now plunging headlong into the abyss", he says.

"Sterling seems to be looking for a level and it’s really unclear where that could be and so bargain hunting is a risky game to play at the moment. The $1.20 handle earmarked by many before the referendum is definitely in play as everyone seems to be short sterling at present.

"Pound weakness is not all bad news of course, but the general feeling in the markets is low in confidence around the UK and that’s unlikely to feed well into asset values generally.”

Personal finance reporter Kevin Peachey tweets:

There's not a lot happening on the FTSE 100 this morning, but the index is at least back in positive territory after initial falls at the start of trade.

A short while ago it was at 7,106.94 - that's up 9.44 points or 0.13% and the index could hit a new record high today. 

The fall in the pound has boosted the FTSE 100 as many of the companies in the index generate most of their revenues abroad. A weaker pound means overseas revenues are worth more when they are converted back into sterling. 

BBC Radio 5 live

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The Note 7 scandal will raise questions in consumers' minds about the Samsung brand, Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies tells 5 Live Breakfast. 

Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones tweets: