Market overview: Miners, oil drop

1630:Close AstraZeneca led gains on the top flight index on the back of reports that it is set to issue long-term debt in a bid to benefit from the ECB's programme of corporate-QE. EasyJet, TUI and Whitbread on the other hand were higher on the back of positive broker commentary. The former is also set to release its latest half-year numbers tomorrow. Miners were broadly lower following steep falls in Chinese iron ore futures overnight and a 1.5% slide in copper futures on the LME. To take note of, a mouthpiece for Beijing said the government would not resort to unfettered stimulus to prop up economic activity. Some market observers have been warning of the need for China to husband the remaining room for stimulus at its disposal. Chinese trade data out on the weekend also revealed a drop in the country's imports of copper during the month of April. FTSE 100 down 10.89 points to 6,114.81.

1600: The drop in crude oil futures is being attributed by market commentary to a reassessment of the impact that the wildfires in Alberta will have on the country’s output. Estimates continue to point to the interruption of over 1.0m barrels of production, the same as at the end of last week. Overextended positioning in the futures market and a ‘bearish’ report from Genscape pointing to an inventory build of 1.4m barrels a day at Cushing, the location at which US WTI futures are priced.

1434: The recent sell-off in the healthcare sector on both sides of the Atlantic due to concerns regarding US drug pricing means it is no longer expensive relative to the market and "depending on the measure, is now trading either in line with, or below long term history", write analysts at Bernstein. In the same note the broker upgraded its view on the sector from 'underweight' to 'overweight' while cutting the weight of consumer staples in its European recommended portfolio further.

1433: AstraZeneca is marketing €2.2bn of debt in a three-part transaction, according to people familiar with the deal cited by Bloomberg. Airbus Group and Royal Dutch Shell are also marketing their own bonds, the same people said, with US outfit Bunge and Spanish insurer Mapfre having also hired banks for possible sales, other people told the newswire.

1400: "More generally we believe TUI will enjoy a strong summer because its fast remix of capacity should deliver good results as visitors return to the more traditional European tourist destinations (Spain) and classic long-haul destinations around Central America and the Caribbean," analysts at Deutsche Bank say ahead of TUI's next update on Wednesday.

1330: Three-month copper futures are down by 1.4% to $4,726.00 per metric tonne in LME trading.

1159: Charles Stanley has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on stock in Whitbread one day ahead of the release of the BRC's latest retail sales monitor.

1135: Goldman Sachs pares its 12-month target price for the Stoxx 600 from 380 to 345.

1100: Many travel stocks are up this morning. The first to take off was EasyJet after RBC Capital Markets analysts upgraded the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘underperform’ and lifted the price target to 1,500p from 1,450p. RBC sees a growing probability the company will move to tackle its cost inflation problems and said balance sheet capital efficiency changes were also possible in future.

1030: A "fat finger" trade led to a big spike in Smith & Nephew earlier, according to reports. Shares in the medical group were more than 7% higher earlier before easing back to normal after what City sources said was an erroneous trade. Also boosting the stock were some broker ratings, with Jeffries lifting it to 'buy', while the European Healthcare sector was raised from 'underweight' by Bernstein.

0950: "Wall Street/Dow Jones futures may have broken out from an (imperfect) bullish flag pattern," notes Mike van Dulken over at Accendo Markets. Nonetheless, the broker's head of research is not particularly sanguine, adding: "Note defensive non-cyclicals topping the FTSE in terms of points contribution."

0930: The Sentix institute's index of investor sentiment for the Eurozone rose past forecasts in May to reach 6.2, up from 5.7 in the month before (consensus: 6.0). However, Pantheon Macroeconomics points out how the 'details' of the report were less than stellar, with a sub-index of expectations flat at 5.5 and all the improvement coming from the gauge tracking the 'current situation' which moved up from 6.0 to 7.0.

0929: Analysts at Citi have downgraded Centamin for the second time in just over two weeks, to 'sell'. It continues to be a top-quality name but the shares have already surged past their target price, the broker points out.

0840: UK house prices slipped by 1.8% month-on-month in April, versus analysts' forecasts calling for a rise of 0.3%.

0839: Stocks have started the morning higher, tracking gains on Wall Street last Friday, despite a downdraft in Chinese stocks and iron ore and rebar futures overnight. The latter fell limit-down at the start of the week after the regulator for the Dalian Commodities Exchange warned new measures to limit speculation were possible. Chinese trade data for April out on Sunday came in slightly weaker than expected. Crude oil futures are higher, with market commentary continuing to hightlight how about 1.0m barrels of Canadian oil production may have been forced off-line by the wildfires raging out of control in Alberta. FTSE 100 up 15.85 points to 6,141.65.