Three former Barclays executives have been cleared of fraud over a £4 billion investment deal with Qatar at the height of the banking crisis.

Scotsman Roger Jenkins, 64, was on Friday acquitted of fraud, alongside former colleagues Thomas Kalaris, 64, and Richard Boath, 61 at the Old Bailey.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for around five-and-a-half hours following a five-month trial.

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At the time the fraud was alleged to have taken place they held senior positions at Barclays.

Mr Jenkins was Barclays Capital executive chairman of investment banking and investment management in the Middle East and North Africa, Mr Kalaris was Barclays' wealth management chie executive and Mr Boath was Barclays Capital head of financial institutions group for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Rolls-Royce has posted an £852 million loss as persistent problems with its Trent 1000 engine overshadowed record engine deliveries.

The company saw shares push higher in early trading after it posted the loss, which narrowed by 27% from its £1.16 billion loss in 2018.

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Rolls-Royce said it was impacted by £578 million related to the engine problems, as well as a £1.4 billion exceptional charge.

However, the firm saw underlying profits jump 25% to £808 million as it was buoyed by a stronger second half period.

Warren East, chief executive of the business, said it had a "good end" to the year "after a challenging first half" and saw its restructuring efforts gain momentum.

Shares in the company rose 4.5% to 627.4p on Friday.

Online trading platform Plus500 said recent volatility in the markets driven by coronavirus fears has helped to drive strong figures for the first quarter of 2020.

Shares in the firm jumped after it said the company has recently seen heightened trading volumes across global financial markets.

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It said it has seen a "significant increase" in customer activity, and trading in the current quarter is "substantially ahead" of the last quarter of 2019.

Plus500 said it is currently "too early" to say the extent of the impact the strong recent performance will have on its outlook for 2020.

High volatility in the market means this improvement "may not persist", it said.

Coronavirus fears drove the FTSE 100 to its lowest figure since 2016 in what is on track to be the worst week for the index of leading British firms since the financial crisis in 2008.

Shares in the company increased by 7.3% to 936.2p in early trading on Friday.