Market overview: Italian finance minister back Greek growth plans

1458: Wire reports from Rome reported that Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and his Italian counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan had enjoyed a constructive meeting. Padoan has backed Greece's plans for "strong growth through structural reforms", saying that "growth should be priority" in order to guarantee Greek debt sustainability, backing proposals from the new anti-austerity coalition in Greece to focus on job-creation rather than continuing strict state spending cuts. Varoufakis has announced that he will meet Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, on Wednesday before meeting German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday.

1420: With the majority of Eurozone countries against the debt proposals of the new Greek government, the abolition of the Troika of Greece's creditors is "off the table for now", according to senior sources cited by news agency MNI. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will mediate as Greece puts forward a new temporary plan to provide the country with ongoing liquidity past its February bailout deadline and allow time to lobby creditors for a broader debt agreement, MNI reported. The Commission is confident of compromise with the Greek government, but the European Central Bank (ECB) reportedly has refused to accept a bond swap, as proposed by new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, wanting full repayment only.

1405: HSBC has lifted its target for growth in the UK´s gross domestic product this year to 2.6% from 2.4% previously.

1350: Standard & Poor's will pay $1.5bn to resolve crisis-era litigation on claims it knowingly issued rosy grades of mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis.

1244: The Eurozone producer price index dropped 2.7% year-on-year in December after falling 1.6% a month earlier. Analysts had predicted a 2.5% decrease.

1120: Tesco has agreed to hand pay £2m to its former chief executive and former finance director, which was withheld in the amid its £263m profit overstatement.

0941: Alongside its results, BP announced that it would cut its investment budget for 2015 by $4bn-6bn - this is likely a factor behind the near-3% rise in Brent crude to $56.35/bbl this morning. Mike van Dulken from Accendo Market said: “More capex cuts in the industry highlight the long-term impact of the recent declines in the oil price with much investment taking time before bearing fruit. But it also suggests reaction which may come to restrict supply in the future, thus helping the oil price recover.” BP’s shares are up 2.6%.

0930: The UK construction PMI jumped to 59.1 in January from a 17-month low of 57.6 in December, surprising analysts who had expected a fall to 57. Nevertheless, the latest reading “was still the second-lowest seen since September 2013”, Markit said.

0820: UK stocks have begun the session moving higher with BP pacing gains in the wake of its latest quarterly and annual results. A last-hour surge in Wall Street stocks overnight is also bolstering sentiment among London traders. Commodity-related stocks such as Glencore and BHP Biliton are right behind. The Australian central bank has surprised some analysts by cutting its main policy rates by 25 basis points overnight. FTSE 100 up 45 to 6,828.