Market overview: Property REITs, miners fall

1630:Close Some of the most solid trading patterns broke down at the end of the week, with oil futures, the yen and prices for most industrial metals heading higher but stocks going south. Profit-taking and the ongoing toll from the car emissions scandal in Europe's automotive sector were blamed as the triggers for the move lower in equities. Traders may also have opted to take some money off the table in the run-up to next week's US and Japanese central bank policy meetings may also have been a factor. Property REITs came under pressure as The Telegraph's Questor team pointed out the impact the upcoming Mayoral elections and a wave of new supply coming to market might have on the sector. FTSE 100 down 71.0 points to 6,310.44.

1438: USD/CAD is under pressure, falling 0.55% to 1.2665 on the heels of the latest Canadian CPI figures showing the cost of living in America's northern neighbour increased at a 1.3% year-on-year clip in March (consensus: 1.20%).

1436: Front month Brent crude futures are moving higher by 1.11% to $45.03 per barrel on the ICE.

1330: Three-month copper futures on the LME are taking a breather, edging lower by 0.2% to 5,005.25.

1313: MPC external member Gertjan Vlieghe has told the London Evening Standard that negative interest rates in the UK are "hypothetically possible" but best avoided.

1130: General Electric's first quarter EPS prints at 21 cents (consensus: 19 cents)

0930: Cannacord Genuity says in a note to investors that UK housebuilders were expected to enjoy “steady volume growth” going forward despite a downgrade to the 2016 construction output forecast by Experian. “With strong order books they appear well placed to weather any short-term slowdown ahead of the Brexit vote.”

0900: Markit's euro area composite purchasing managers index for April has slipped from a reading of 53.1 to 53.0, a two-month low, with conspicuously weak manufacturing in France offset y a better tone to services sector activity.

0830: Stocks have started lower out of the gate weighed down by losses in miners with traders referencing profit-taking, although some market-chatter is also taking a rather downbeat view of the latest moves by central banks to stem deflationary pressures and prop up their economies. Sharp falls in several US corporate heavyweights overnight such as Microsoft, Google, Visa and Starbucks might also be serving to highlight the lack of earnings growth in the first quarter. Yen moved sharply lower during the Asian trading session as Bloomberg reported the BoJ might be preparing to incentivise lending by some of the country's in a bid to stoke activity and offset the impact of negative rates on the same.