Domino's Pizza has reported its highest ever number of orders in the last three months of 2022, as it enjoyed a boost from the World Cup and more people using its app.

The UK and Ireland takeaway giant said it had 18.5m orders in the fourth quarter, with total orders up 4% and collection orders up 28pc compared to 2021.

Domino's said it had been an "exceptionally busy year", having launched new takeaway deals to target customers facing cost pressures, and new products to tie in with people watching football at home.

The company saw its underlying pre-tax profit fall by 13pc last year, to £99m from £114m, which it said was due to investment into new cloud-based technology platforms.

Despite its massive reduction in profits after tax, Harbour Energy has announced today a new $200m (£169m) share buyback programme.

Added together with its $200m annual dividend policy, it brings total announced shareholder returns to $1bn (£840m) since December 2021.

Harbour Energy saw its pre-tax profits of $2.4bn (£2bn) wiped out by windfall taxes, leaving it with a profit after tax of just $8m (£6.7m).

This came after the North Sea oil producer made revenues of $5.4bn (£4.6bn) in the wake of surging energy prices caused by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

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What happened overnight 

Asian shares wobbled while the dollar was perched near a three-month high after a spate of economic data overnight appeared to support Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish guidance on further interest rate increases.

In his second day on Capitol Hill, Powell stuck to his message of higher and potentially faster interest rate rises, but emphasised that debate was still underway with a decision hinging on data to be issued before the US central bank's policy meeting in two weeks.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1pc, after falling 1.4pc the previous session. 

China's bluechips slid 0.4pc and the yuan weakened 0.2pc after softer-than-expected inflation data for February revived doubts about the pace of economic recovery. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.3pc.

Japan's stocks closed higher for a fifth straight day on Thursday, with investors taking heart from recent rallies.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.6pc to end at 28,623.15, while the broader Topix index gained 1pc to 2,071.09.

Wall Street delivered mixed results as data showed job openings remain elevated, private payrolls beat consensus estimates and demand for home loans increased despite higher mortgage rates..

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.2pc at 32,798.40. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 percent at 3,992.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 percent to 11,576.00.

The two-year Treasury yield surged to 5.06pc, while the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was little changed at 3.97pc