Market overview: Vodafone and Barclays lead gains

1630: Close UK stocks ended the session sharply higher, led by gains in Vodafone on the back of remarks made by the boss of rival Liberty Global regarding the possible convenience of a merger. Shares of Barclays were also to be found near the top of the leaderboard, despite news that it and four other banks had been slapped with a $5.8bn fine for rigging FX markets. It was fined another 284m pounds by the FCA. RBS, one of the offendants, was also registering sharp gains. Cable ended the session only slightly higher, gaining 0.19% to 1.5541, despite what Bill Hubard, chief economist at Bankor, labelled as a “slightly” more hawkish than expected set of MPC minutes. The US FOMC´s own policy minutes were due after the close of trading. FTSE 100 up 12 points to 7,007.26.

1419: Analysts at Numis have upped their view on shares of Smith&Nephew to 'hold' from 'add'.

1358: Moody´s has upgraded the outlook for its rating on India´s long-term debt to 'positive'.

1211: Markets are underestimating the oppirtunity for "self help" and cost reductions at BP, RBS says in a broker note. They have bumped up their target price on the shares to 500p from 490p.

1159: In the run-up to this evening´s Fed minutes, UBS has issued a research note telling clients they are likely to highlight the Fed´s uncertainty about growth. Any "conversation" regarding the slippage seen in companies´ outlays for capital expeditures "will be important". April´s FOMC minutes included a belated recognition of the last six months´s weakening in capex, the broker pointed out. Signs of a rebound in Q2 GDP are likely to be scarce by the time of the 16-17 June policy meeting. "In that environment, FOMC members were unlikely to stick their necks out (individually or collectively) and, in turn, the FOMC minutes are likely to be bland, with the Fed hoping for improvement but still uncertain about a rebound," the broker said.

1125: Shares in Aveva continue to dance around six-month highs, amid renewed takeover talk and Tuesday's results. An 'outperform' rating from Credit Suisse is helping today, despite a mixed write-up. With its full-year numbers in line, the Swiss bank raised its target price to 2,200p from 1,800p reflecting share price strength across the sector. This was despite acknowledging that oil and gas markets clearly remain fragile and "any growth will be hard to achieve". Consequently, it has downgrade 2016 earnings per share by 9% nearer to consensus. On bid speculation, a note from Barclays pointed out that an interview with the company's CEO Richard Longdon on Tuesday had "tempered the excitement around a potential near-term bid for the company".

1050: Citi believes oil prices above $60 per barrel could prompt a recovery in US tight-oil production. Hence, it has lowered its forecast for fourth quarter 2015 WTI futures to $54.

0930: As expected, at its last rate setting meeting the MPC voted to keep its monetary policy settings unchanged, although two of its members indicated their decision had been finely balanced between that and pushing for a rise in rates.

0915: Shares in Vodafone are top of the leaderboard following comments by Liberty Global's chairman John Malone that the UK telecoms giant would be a "great fit".

0830: Stocks have begun the morning slightly lower, tracking a dip on Wall Street overnight. On Tuesday, the Dax-Xetra closed out its best two-day gain since January. The Nikkei-225 hit a fresh 15-year high this morning on the back of better-than-expected GDP figures out in Tokyo. In parallel, research from Nomura according to whom the next QE move from the Bank of Japan may include ETF purchases is seen as having contributed to the move higher in stocks. Last night, the ECB´s Coeure told a selected audience the central bank´s would be frontloaded over the summer to take into account seasonal trading patterns. The latest set FOMC minutes due out tonight will be closely scrutinised. Greek officials have reportedly said the country may not be able to make a 5 June deadline for a payment to the IMF. FTSE 100 down 5 points to 6,990.89.