Market overview: Bwin Party down sharply after buyers pull out

1605: Stock in Bwin Party is collapsing after potential buyers reportedly pulled out of a bid, according to Bloomberg.

1505: The University of Michigan consumer confidence index fell to a three-month low of 93.5 in February from 98.1 in January. The consensus forecast was for an unchanged reading.

1405: Oil explorer Afren has called off its negotiations with Seplat Petroleum, saying it was not satisfied with the company's offer. It has thus decided to reject the possibility of extending the deadline by which to reach an agreement.

1330: US import prices declined at a 2.8% month-on-month clip in January (consensus: -3.2%), after the previous month's drop was revised to show a smaller 1.9% fall.

1200: Brent crude futures are now trading above the $60 per barrel mark, sustaining a two-week rally and potentially breaching what looks like an important psychological level of resistance, Westhouse Securities points out. The analysts add that in their opinion "we would venture to argue that we have seen the lows for oil prices in this cycle. [...] While we are not necessarily advocating a swift return to prices above $80 per barrel, we believe that we may be past the worst."

1030: The Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter grew 0.3% from the previous three months, above consensus expectations of a 0.2% increase. Annual growth in the fourth quarter edged up to 0.9% year-on-year, from 0.8% in the previous three months.

0916: The share price of Anglo American is up around 3% despite news that it has decided to write-down the value of certain assets by $3.9bn on the back of weaker iron ore prices, pushing the company into the red for the 2014 financial year. Anglo swung to a pre-tax loss of $259m in 2014, compared with a profit of $1.7bn in 2013. Even Fresnillo is rising despite explaining how foreign exchange movements, depreciation and write-downs would adversely affect its 2014 results. The FTSE 100 is up 0.7% at 6,875.

0830: UK markets have opened higher after German GDP growth picked up to 0.7% in Q4 from 0.1% in Q3, ahead of the 0.3% forecast. The figures suggest upside risks to the Eurozone GDP data due at 10:00 with consensus currently predicting an expansion of just 0.2%. Mining and oil stocks are rising this morning as commodity prices improve. Brent crude in particular, has jumped above $60 a barrel.