LONDON (ShareCast) - 1630:Close UK stocks bounced back on the first day of the week, ending the day near their best levels after carving out a broad 83-point trading range. Miners did best, presumably on the heels of stronger than expected figures on Chinese foreign trade. The commodities space saw some interesting trading patterns. Three-month copper futures rose 0.6% to settle at $6,690 per metric tonne on the LME. Front month December Brent crude futures on the other hand ended the day firmly lower, with losses of 2.1% at $88.36 per barrel on the ICE. The latter meant that Weir group was again to be found at the close of trading. Traders took note of reports of differences of opinion between the ECB and Bundesbank over how to proceed on further stimulus. FTSE 100 up 26 points to 6,366.








1430: Shares of ARM Holdings have been downgraded to 'neutral' from 'overweight' over at JP Morgan. That follows a warning from Microchip Technology last Friday.

1404: City financier Richard Griffiths has increased his stake in dating site business Cupid to 8.94%.

1352: De La Rue has inked a 10-year banknote printing contract with the BoE.

1327: US stock futures are up 0.1-0.3% in pre-market trade though sentiment is still fragile after last week's sell-off. A busy week for corporate earnings is also prompting some nervousness on markets with results from banking majors JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup due out on Tuesday. Thanksgiving in Canada means that Toronto's stock market is closed today, while the US bond market is closed for Columbus Day. Wall Street, however, is open as usual.

1209: Nobel committee awards 2014 prize for Economics to Jean Tirole.

1132: The New York-listed maker of hospital sterilisation products Steris Corp. has announced its intention to purchase UK outfit Synergy Health for a purchase price of approximately £1.2b, or £19.50 per share, equivalent to a 39% premium.

1115: Frail growth in the Eurozone will be only one of some many factors which will help determine when the Bank of England raises rates, Governor Mark Carney said in remarks to US TV news channel CNN.

1042: Shares of IAG and easyJet are both registering gains of circa 2% early on. US officials' description of the first Ebola infection Stateside as being the result of a mistake in the protocol for treating these kinds of cases may be helping sentiment. Similarly, on Sunday European investigators in Madrid were cited as saying the infection there was the result of an accident.


1015: Shares of Anglo American have made their way to the top of the leaderboard after analysts at Canaccord Genuity initiated their coverage of the stock with a 'buy' recommendation. Despite the anticipated short-term pressure on the shares, as markets revised their commodity price forecasts lower, the broker sees more upside potential than downside risks over the longer-term. They recommend building positions.

1002: Quindell stock is gaining 6% after reporting third quarter revenue growth of 115% to £198m.

0958: Randgold Resources is on the rise (+2.1%) after UBS upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', saying that the risk/reward balance is now "attractive" after a 20% drop in the stock over the last three months. "We believe RRS remains the best managed and highest quality gold stock in our European coverage universe and we continue to think it deserves to trade at a premium to its gold peers," the bank said.

0915: Over the weekend US financial weekly Barron's said shares in Australian iron ore miner Rio Tinto could rise 20% over the next 12 months, even without a merger with Glencore.

0900: UK stocks have begun the session modestly lower despite the release of better than expected trade data out overnight in China - although Anglo American and Rio Tinto may be deriving some support from the news. That comes amid some reports of continued frictions between ECB president Mario Draghi and Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann, over the weekend, in Washington. Notably, US Fed vice chairman Stanley Fischer also said that weak global growth prospects could slow the pace of rate rises in the US. Precious metals miners were doing best in the early going. Weir Group is again off sharply, tracking the price of Brent crude lower on worries that a sufficiently large drop in oil quotes could hit the US shale revolution. FTSE 100 down 35 to 6,304.

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