Market overview: Miners lead gains, China vows to cut steel output

1630:Close Stocks bounced back on Monday, led by gains in miners, amid gains in the prices for industrial metals as oil prices rebounded from losses early in the session. After the close of markets in London, Business Secretary Said Javid said from Brussels that China had vowed to reduce the amount of steel it produces. Ahead of the the latest weekend IMF meetings, China had announced it would remove export subsidies on aluminium products including speciality steel and titanium. Nonetheless, for analysts at Macquarie that was more of a strategically-timed message meant to forestall US rhetoric. Shares in TUI AG also led on the upside, boosted by favourable comments out of analysts at Berenberg. Three-month copper futures 0.9% higher at $4,822.50 per metric tonne. FTSE 100 up 9.77 points to 6,353.52.

1436: BP's "high" dividend yield (small scrip take-up) more than adequately prices-in the risk of a potential cut in dividend, JP Morgan's Nitin Sharma says, bumping up his 2016 target for the shares from 350p to 400p, while reaffirming his 'overweight' stance. Big-ticket M&A risk is also unwarranted, given the firm's healthy project pipeline, good long-term exploration record and limited balance sheet room, the analyst adds.

1435: Today's squall in the FX market seems to have subsided, with all the major currency pairs now trading barely unchanged versus the US dollar. Front month Brent is down 3.38% to $41.69 per barrel on the ICE.

1330: Three-month copper futures are drifting 0.2% lower to $4,777.75 per metric tonne on the LME.

1155: Morgan Stanley reports first quarter EPS of $0.55 (consensus: $0.47) on revenues of $7.8bn (consensus: $7.76bn).

1148: HSBC are studying possible share buybacks, Reuters is reporting.

1108: UBS upgrades European pharma sector from 'underweight' to 'overweight'. "Pharma is the only defensive with negative 12m price momentum relative to the European market and if anything its valuation is now closer to that of cyclical sectors than of other defensives," strategist Joao Toniato writes in a research report sent to clients. Roche, AstraZeneca and Shire are among the key buys in the sector, he says.

1031: Analysts at Berenberg have upgraded their recommendation on shares of TUI to 'buy' from 'hold' and on Thomas Cook from 'sell' to 'hold'.

1030: UBS cuts target price on RBS from 340p to 310p.

0914: Just a reminder, Morgan Stanley is due to publish its latest quarterly results later on Monday.

0904: "The failure in Doha to agree on an output freeze among major world oil producers will weigh on energy prices and, hence, commodity-related FX. That said, we be believe the pressure will be short lived. This is because the previous rally in oil prices was not exclusively driven by expectations of a Doha agreement, but also by a trend improvement in Chinese data, as we have highlighted previously. The latter remains in place and should support commodity and commodity-exposed currencies in the medium term. Notwithstanding short-term volatility, we continue to be bullish on NOK and CAD," Unicredit says.

0901: Citi moves to 'bearish' stance on UK metals and mining stocks from 'neutral'.

0841: Stocks have started the morning lower, with the energy patch under pressure on both the Footsie and second-tier index as crude oil futures spiral lower following the lack of an agreement over the weekend in Doha. To take note of, some market chatter is referencing the possibility of production outages in some key producers as an unexpected development that may bolster oil prices. Commodity currencies have been sent reeling by the failure of the Doha talks but UniCredit believes the selling will be shortlived. Homebuilders are bouncing back on the top flight index, alongside gains in travel-related issues as oil moves down. The Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index finished down by 1.44% at 3,033.66. FTSE 100 down 45.32 points to 6,298.26.