Market overview: Homebuilders drop sharply

1630:Close Stocks ended slightly lower, weighed down by losses in the homebuilding sector, although miners largely offset that drag. Cranswick was on a tear after announcing the purchase of Crown, its second (and more sizeable) foray into the poultry sector. Investec lifted its target price on the shares from 2,350p to 2,500p on the back of the news. Homebuilders were lower as some market commentary referenced a looming glut of high-end properties. Front-month Brent crude futures were nearly 2.0% higher at $42.77 per barrel on the ICE. FTSE 100 down 4.29 points to 6,200.12.

1630: Three-month copper futures edged lower by 0.1% to $4,667.50 per metric tonne.

1330: Three-month LME-traded copper futures are nudging higher by 0.1% to $4,640.50 per metric tonne.

139: Shares in Fresnillo are moving higher after analysts Tyler Broda and Alexandra Slattery at RBC bumped their target price on the stock from 610p to 750p, albeit while downgrading their recommendation from 'sector perform' to 'underperform'. "Even following our increase in gold price forecasts (silver remains the same) with coming execution risks around San Julien and Fresnillo, we cannot justify the current share price on valuation grounds," they said. In the same note, the Canadian-based broker RBC lifted its target for the price of gold in 2016 to $1,250 per ounce and for the long-term to $1,300 per ounce. Its projection for the long-term price of silver was kept at $17.50 per ounce.

1129: Homebuilders are broadly lower across the board, with some market observers referencing a report on Bloomberg about the record number of luxury homes currently planned in London, about 35,000 properties, worth almost £77bn and spanning over 40m square feet - which is equivalent to more than double the size of Hyde Park. That may force some developers to turn some of those projects into offices as demand falls, a report from consultancy Arcadis NV says.

1128: Galliford Try is lower after the company found itself caught up in the Edinburgh schools closure scandal. over the weekend.

1023: Analysts at Barclays have downgraded their recommendation on stock of Direct Line Group to 'equalweight', saying the company's shares were now fairly valued. Stock in Next is taking a hit after BNP Paribas cut its target price.

0900: Italian industrial production grew by 1.2% year-on-year in February (consensus: 1.40%).

0835: Stocks have started the morning slightly lower despite gains in miners and StanChart, which are being more than offset by losses among the housebuilders. Commodity prices are being quoted higher early on Monday morning but dollar/yen is drifting lower. In the oil patch, traders appeared to be booking futures following Friday’s surge in prices, with Brent futures down by 0.94% to $41.55 per barrel on the ICE. To take note of, StanChart is reportedly looking to sell down just over £3.0bn in Asian assets. Italian banks are higher ahead of a government meeting later on Monday at which authorities are expected to set up a fund to help recapitalise the country’s lenders. Chinese price data for March out overnight appears to have been well received by markets, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index closing higher. FTSE 100 down 26.55 points to 6,177.83.