The FTSE 100 is up just 0.1% as BT weighs on the index.

Shares in the telecoms giant are now down about 7% after it posted worse than expected quarterly results. However, Next shares have surged more than 6% after it raised its profit outlook .

The FTSE 250 is up by 0.2% despite a whopping 37% fall in Capita shares. It comes after the struggling outsourcing firm published details of a share issue designed to fund a reorganisation of the business.

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Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economic, thinks that while Next's results are better than expected due to the spell of sunnier weather, investors shouldn't be cheering yet.

"The story of continuous structural challenges underlies the narrative for these results. In-store sales continued to spiral downwards indicating the relentless shift towards online shopping," he said.

"This reflects the real challenge for many high street retailers who are oversupplied with physical space while consumers increasingly spend both their time and money away from traditional high streets."

BT shares have fallen by up to 9% despite its promises to cut costs and plug its pension deficit.

The slide follows weaker-than-expected fourth quarter results at the telecoms giant. Its full year guidance also disappointed analysts.

The firm's shares are now hovering near 5-1/2 year lows.

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Australia's embattled wealth management giant AMP has said it will "vigorously defend" two class-action lawsuits filed against it.

The firm is amid a fee-for-no-service scandal as a government-backed inquiry into Australia's banking and finance landscape continues to unveil a culture of poor service across the industry.

AMP has also been accused of misleading the country's banking regulator - the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The wealth management giant has now lost several senior staff, including its chief executive and chairman, as a result of the inquiry.

Interim executive chairman, Mike Wilkins, issued an apology to customers, shareholders and the wider community at the firm's AGM on Thursday.

"We have heard loud and clear that you [shareholders] require change.

"The board has accepted accountability, to date some 50% of the board has left or is leaving," he said.

"The scale of these changes reflects the gravity of the issue."

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The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.39% to close at 22,497.18 points on Thursday, taking a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended the session up 0.18% to 6,118.70 points. Shares in embattled wealth manager AMP lost 3.2% as it said it would vigorously defend two class action suits filed against it.

The firm is embroiled in a fee-for-no-service scandal as a government-backed banking inquiry continues in Australia.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.73% in afternoon trade, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.18%.

On its job cuts, a BT spokesman told the BBC a third of layoffs would be overseas.

That means two thirds of the 13,000 post affected are UK based.

"Wherever possible we always look to retrain and reskill UK employees and offer voluntary packages," he said.

It is understood the firm cannot rule out some compulsory redundancies, but it that would be the last option.

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BT has also announced a plan to plug its whopping £11.3bn pension deficit, which it blames on a fall in long-term interest rates.

It said it would meet the shortfall by making payments of £2.1bn into the fund until 31 March 2020. A further £2bn contribution will be made as soon as is practicable, funded though a bond.

Finally, BT will make further annual payments of £900m between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2030.

BT's chief financial officer Simon Lowth said it would "draw a line" under a key source of uncertainty for BT, its pension holders and other stakeholders.

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Clothing retailer Superdry has reported strong revenue and earnings growth, aided by the weakness of the pound.

Its global sales rose 22.1% to £16bn for the year ended 28 April, compared with the same period in the previous year.

It credited the growth to 29.6% rise in revenue in its wholesale division and a 25.8% jump in online sales.

However, its US business struggled, making a £3m loss due to property issues.

The firm said profit this financial year was likely to be between £96.5m and £97.5m, which would be another year of double-digit profit growth.

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Could Next defy the High Street slowdown this year? The fashion retailer has upgraded its full-year profit forecast after reporting a rise in first-quarter sales, helped by the warm spring weather.

It now expects a full-year pretax profit of £717m - up from previous guidance of £705m.

The firm, which has been hit by a dip in consumer confidence, saw sales climb 6% in the three months to 7 May, although much of the growth was online.

E-commerce sales jumped 18%, while high street retail sales slipped 4.8%.

Alongside its jobs announcement, BT announced a 3% drop in fourth-quarter revenue to £5.97bn pounds, just missing analysts' expectations.

However, core earnings came in at £2.1bn pounds, up 1%.

Boss Gavin Patterson said: "BT delivered a solid set of financial results in the fourth quarter, with growth in our consumer divisions offset by declines in our enterprise businesses, due to both challenging market conditions and our decision to exit lower margin business."

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The Bank of England should take a cautious approach to raising rates, says Andrew Benito, senior European economist at Goldman Sachs.

He told Today: "There is a case for raising rates... but rates really don't need to rise very far over the next three years to keep inflation around 2% and to keep unemployment low.

"Inflation is already moving back towards the 2% target and faster than previously thought."

As such, he says the Bank of England can afford to wait and not raise rates this month. That would also let it see whether the weak GDP data of the first quarter was just a blip.

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Supermarket chain Morrisons has reported a 3.8% rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel for the 13 weeks to 6 May.

The supermarket chain attributed the growth to, among other things, its new wholesaling partnership with McColl's, which saw a 1.8% rise in like-for-like sales.

Morrisons also said it had introduced two new ranges in this period - its "Wonky" line of misshapen, low-priced fruit and vegetables, and its cut-price own label Savers, which features chilled and frozen food items.

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Telecoms giant BT has confirmed it will cut 13,000 jobs in a bid to cut costs by some £800m.

It said the mainly back office and middle management roles would go over the next three years.

However, it said it would be hiring around 6,000 new employees "to support network deployment and customer service".

It is part of a wider overhaul at the company, which has been struggling with under-performing overseas operations and a huge pension deficit.

“Our strategy will drive sustainable growth in value by focusing on delivering differentiated customer experiences, investing in integrated network leadership, and transforming our operating model," said BT boss Gavin Patterson.

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The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is highly unlikely to raise interest rates when it meets later following a spate of weaker-than-expected economic data.

But Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist at the CBI, tells Today that it should stick to its previous plan and put them up.

"If you look at where the economy is now - we've got record low unemployment, skills shortages are at their highest level for decades, and we are seeing concerns about a pick-up in wage growth.

"For me, I'd rather take some action now and raise rates to 0.75% than have to take more drastic steps later."

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RBS's £3.6bn penalty in the US is much smaller than many expected, says Jane Sydenham, an investment director at Rathbones.

Some feared the lender could have to pay anything up to £11bn to settle claims it mis-sold financial products before the 2008 financial crash.

She says the settlement brings to an end a long, difficult period for the bank in which it struggled to make a profit. It may also make it easier for the Government, which majority owns the bank, to offload its stake.

"Clearly nobody is going to want to buy shares in a bank when they know there are going to be lots of fines," she told Today.

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Julian Richer, founder and chief executive of Richer Sounds, says he is also "terribly worried" about people's expenditure at the moment, and he hopes the Bank of England doesn't put interest rates up.

He also has a beef about business rates and strongly dislikes Amazon.

"What really annoys me are Amazon who are nicking our lunch, and they're just paying warehouse rates, as they're an e-tailer," he said.

"I think they should be paying much higher taxes."

Royal Mail has responded to a story in the Telegraph, external from Wednesday that states homeowners could receive more junk mail.

A loophole in new data protection laws means businesses can still send people junk mail if the letters are unaddressed, despite tighter regulations governing users' private data.

MPs have accused Royal Mail of encouraging junk mail, particularly after the postal service sent out pamphlets telling businesses "don't forget the power of unaddressed mail".

Royal Mail said it takes its responsibility as a media owner "very seriously" and that it supports the new regulations.

"Targeted door-to-door mailings help to underpin the Universal Service. They provide a very valuable service to companies of all kinds as they seek to provide their goods and services. Research shows that consumers value this mail," it said.

"We are committed to giving households control over the unaddressed mail they receive so that they can make an informed choice."

People can opt out of unaddressed mail if they wish to stop receiving it.

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The former head of China's embattled insurance and financial giant Anbang has been jailed for 18 years for corruption and fraud.

Wu Xiaohui admitted on state television in March to fraudulently raising billions of dollars from investors.

He will also have 10.5bn yuan ($1.7bn; £1.2bn) confiscated from him, according to Chinese state media.

Mr Wu was first detained in June last year. Chinese regulators took control of Anbang in February 2018.

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Julian Richer, founder and chief executive of home entertainment retailer Richer Sounds, has written a new book called The Ethical Capitalist.

He tells BBC Radio 5 Live's Wake Up to Money programme that there has been too much exploitation in the business world that needs to be exposed.

“Whenever I meet millionaires, they think they deserve their millions, but they should trying going down a mine for a week. Too many of them think they’re incredibly clever being able to rip the country off and avoid paying taxes," he said.

Mr Richer is also critical of shareholders, saying: “You often find the shareholders are removed from the business and they often just want their dividends. Shareholders rarely visit the business and they just care about their returns."