LONDON (ShareCast) - Monday saw another choppy session on financial markets in the midst of mixed economic data from Asia, though stocks finished firmly off their lows after S&P raised its outlook for the US.

Wall Street benchmark opened in positive territory after the opening bell as ratings agency S&P upped its view on US sovereign debt from 'negative' to 'stable'. The agency said that some of the downside risks to its 'AA+' rating have "receded to the point that the likelihood that we will lower the rating within the next two years is less than one in three".

However, gains were limited in New York as 'Fedspeak' continued to catch attention. James Bullard, head of the St Louis Federal Reserve, said this afternoon that the recovery in the labour market means that the central bank could begin to scale back stimulus. Nevertheless, he said that given the low-inflation environment, policymakers can probably maintain its asset purchase programme over a longer time frame.

Chinese, Japanese data in focus

Stocks got off to a weak start this morning after a host of economic figures from China failed to meet expectations. Unexpected declines in Chinese inflation and bank lending in May, as well as worse-than-expected falls in money supply growth, industrial production and export growth last month dampened market sentiment today.

Furthermore, following the announcement this weekend that export growth fell to a 10-month low in May, Barclays Capital has slashed its Chinese growth targets from 7.9% to 7.4% for 2013 and from 8.1% to 7.4% for 2014.

The news pushed the FTSE 350 mining index to its worst levels since mid-2009.

One bright spark though however came from Japan were growth was revised higher for the first quarter. The Japanese economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.1% in the first three months of 2013, ahead of the initial 3.5% estimate.

FTSE 100: Severn Trent sinks as takeover is put on the line

Water group Severn Trent was a heavy faller on the FTSE 100 on Monday after rejecting the latest takeover proposal from international consortium LongRiver Partners at 2,200p per share. A spokesman from the consortium responded by saying that it would not make a further proposal for Severn Trent if the board does not engage in talks.

Heading the other way was terrestrial broadcaster ITV after Liberum Capital speculated that the company could return up to £1.3bn to shareholders over the next three years. "ITV's structural position is better than consensus thinks," said analyst Ian Whittaker, as he hiked his target price for the stock from 155p to 200p and kept a 'buy' rating.

Mining stocks were sharply lower today as a host of economic data from China painted a gloomy picture for the world's second-largest economy. Vedanta Resources, Anglo American and Rio Tinto were among the worst performers.

Even precious metals producer Polymetal was lower despite signing two export sales contracts with Chinese off-takers for a volume of up to 50,000 tonnes of refractory gold concentrate produced at the Mayskoye gold project. The move will allow it to start generating free cash flows at its newest mine by the third quarter, the company said.

Polymetal was also making headlines on the news that the firm, along with Russian mining peer EVRAZ, will be exiting the FTSE 100 index this week after some sharp falls so far this year.

FTSE 250: Ocado jumps to all-time high

Online grocery firm Ocado was the standout performer on the second-tier index, rising to his highest ever level since it debuted on the stock market in July 2010. While there's no newsflow, one trader told Sharecast that today's moves are likely a result of 'short-sellers' continuing to cover their positions.

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty rose after proposing to close a number of regional offices as part of an internal review of its UK construction business. The company also announced that it had been awarded a contract worth over £110m to construct a 43-storey tower in London, the tallest building constructed by the firm in the UK.

Betfair was also higher after Citigroup upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', with the broker saying that the online gaming group's valuation looks attractive compared with the wider sector.

After making gains for most of the day, soft drinks group Britvic swung sharply into the red on reports that Morgan Stanley has placed 8.8m shares at 495-505p, equal to a 3.5% stake in the firm.

FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 134.20p +3.71%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,226.00p +2.68%
IMI (IMI) 1,287.00p +2.47%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 928.00p +2.09%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,925.00p +2.02%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 334.00p +2.02%
Kingfisher (KGF) 352.90p +1.79%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 257.50p +1.62%
Meggitt (MGGT) 527.00p +1.44%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,267.00p +1.43%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,946.00p -5.99%
Polymetal International (POLY) 644.00p -4.66%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,421.50p -2.84%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,740.00p -2.42%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,212.00p -2.34%
Evraz (EVR) 124.60p -2.27%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,118.00p -2.27%
Prudential (PRU) 1,096.00p -1.97%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 734.50p -1.94%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 745.00p -1.78%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 312.00p +13.13%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 226.30p +4.77%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 454.00p +3.91%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 240.00p +3.00%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 280.00p +2.98%
Betfair Group (BET) 836.00p +2.96%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 921.50p +2.73%
Savills (SVS) 600.00p +2.56%
Homeserve (HSV) 280.80p +2.48%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 529.00p +2.42%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 150.50p -5.88%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 132.90p -4.94%
Grainger (GRI) 146.00p -3.95%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,780.00p -3.74%
Lonmin (LMI) 287.60p -3.20%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 221.30p -2.81%
Hays (HAS) 88.40p -2.59%
Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd. (GSS) 535.00p -2.55%
Pace (PIC) 237.00p -2.47%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 576.00p -2.37%

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