Market overview: Barclays and Petra Diamonds lead gains

1630:Close Barclays led gains on the Footsie after the Bank of England said the lender had successfully passed its latest round of stress tests. Petra Diamonds paced advancers on the second tier index after two groups of lenders waived tests linked to the company's debt covenants. That came amid weaker than expected prints for manufacturing sector PMIs in the UK and US, alongside mixed readings out of China. At 52.8, the Eurozone's own PMI was in line with economists' forecasts. The latter came amid some market chatter to the effect that the ECB might not live up to some traders' expectations for policy easing next Thursday. Three-month copper futures finished the session 0.7% higher to $4,622 per metric tonne in LME trading. FTSE 100 up 39.56 points to 6,395.65.

1501: The ISM manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for November retreated to 48.6 following a reading of 50.1 for the month before (consensus: 50.5).

1500: US construction spending grew by 1.0% month-on-month in October, after a rise of 0.6% in the month before (consensus: 0.6%).

1425: General Motors has reported a 1.5% increase in November vehicle sales (forecast: 2.9%) and Ford a gain of 0.3% (forecast: 3.2%).

1330: At last count, three-month copper futures were up by 0.4% to $4,608.25 per metric tonne in LME trading. As a reminder, over the weekend several Chinese producers announced a collective 200,000 metric tonne reduction in their output levels for 2016.

1200: FT's Alphaville is labelling rumours of a National Grid bid for ITC materialising as premature, adding that such an acquisition could be difficult.

1000: Eurozone unemployment retreated to 10.7% in October from 10.8% in the month before (consensus: 10.8%).

0945: Despite today’s manufacturing PMI numbers Markit believes the sector is in a better position to be less of a drag on the UK economy. However, “robust service sector growth will nevertheless be needed to achieve the 0.6% fourth quarter GDP expansion still required to meet the 2015 growth target outlined in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at the survey compiler.

0930: Markit's UK manufacturing PMI for November retreated to a reading of 52.7 from the prior month's level of 55.2 (consensus: 53,6)

0900: German unemployment fell by 13,000 people in November, after a drop of 6,000 in the month before (consensus: -5,000).

0855: Markit’s Eurozone purchasing managers’ index for November improved to a reading of 52.9 following a print of 52.6 in the month before (consensus: 52.6).

0845: In its latest Financial Stability report the Financial Policy Committee judged the country’s banking system to be in better shape. However, it hinted at a possible increase in its counter-cyclical buffers – currently at 0% - as early as March 2016.

0835: Stocks have started the morning higher despite a lower close on Wall Street and mixed Chinese factory data overnight. Banks’ shares are in the lead early following news that they all successfully passed the BoE’s 2015 stress tests, despite some observers’ criticism that the tests were not harsh enough. Eurozone manufacturing sector data and German unemployment figures are set for release this morning. Markit’s UK manufacturing sector PMI is scheduled for release at 09:30 followed by the ISM report in the afternoon.