Glencore Xstrata's chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, has announced three new appointments to the board of the wheat trading-to-coal mining empire, including the veteran Wall Street banker John Mack.

Glencore has confirmed that it is being investigated by Italian financial police over tax evasion allegations involving its Sardinian subsidiary, the metals producer Portovesme.

Sir John Bond was today ejected as chairman of FTSE 100 mining giant Glencore Xstrata, only minutes before he was due to run its first annual meeting following the $67 billion (£44 billion) merger.

High rollers knock 5% off Rank profits

The FTSE 100 index has hit its highest level since December 2007, buoyed by a cut in Australian interest rates, some better-than-expected German factory output data and the afterglow from last week's decent US jobs report.

Shares in Glencore Xstrata shot up 4 per cent on the newly formed commodities empire’s first full day of trading as a single entity.

Glencore Xstrata shares found favour with the City today on the newly formed mining empire’s first morning of trading as a single company.

Giant commodity trader Glencore is set to get final clearance for its $32 billion (£20.9 billion) takeover of mining group Xstrata some 14 months after it first launched their bid.

Paul Rogers will be at today’s FA Cup semi-final hoping that Wigan Athletic can repeat their victory over Millwall in the teams’ previous Wembley meeting, when he scored the only goal of the 1999 Auto Windscreens Shield final.

The Analyst

The Chinese economy is still growing apace, though it recorded a surprise trade deficit for the month of March as imports surged.

In profit...

The merger between the commodities giants Glencore and Xstrata is set to rumble on for at least another month, as the completion date was pushed back because of investigations in China.