Market overview: Rise in yields weighs on property stocks

1630:Close Stocks drifted lower at the start of the week as investors keyed off of the rather glum newsflow coming out of Greece. Construction and property sector stocks were weakest. On 6 March the yield differential on 10-year Gilts versus their German equivalents reached its greatest level since 1997 on the heels of a strong US jobs report. Negative newsflow around the Holcim and Lafarge tie-up may have weighed on shares of CRH. Over the weekend there was also some negative coverage of certain megabanks' -such as Citi and HSBC - low levels of return on equity in the FT. StanChart and Glencore received a boost in the form of positive analyst commentary. That helped them to dodge the downdraft which plagued the wider top flight index. FTSE 100 down 35.33 points to 6,876.47 points.

1600: Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas have hiked their price target on shares of Standard Chartered to 940p from 875p but write that that the chances of a dividend cut are now greater than 50%. On the plus side of things, the broker adds that the lender can now probably avoid a capital increase.

1559: On the subject of Glencore, Exane writes today that "provided base metal prices start to reflect fundamentals, the group could have room to consider resuming its buyback programme next summer."

1447: A spokesperson for Spectrum Value Management, which represents Thomas Schmidheiny, the largest shareholder of Swiss cement group Holcim, has told Bloomberg that the industrial logic of a tie-up between Holcim and Lafarge remains intact. A report over the weekend had cited Schmidheiny as looking for better terms. The news may be weighing on shares of CRH who is set to pick up assets with an enterprise value of €6.5bn from from its two rivals if the merger goes through.

1317: Ahead of the US open, one hour earlier than usual due to clocks having gone forward over the weekend, all eyes are on M&A activity and an announcement from GM that it will immediately embark on a $5bn share repurchase agreement. That ends a proxy fight with Harry J.Wilson who will now back down from his attempt to be given a seat on the manufacturer's board of directors. Apple is also set to launch its new watch later this evening.

1303: Analysts at Credit Suisse have upped their year-end price target for the Euro Stoxx 50 to 3,900 points from 3,600 beforehand.

1153: Contrasting performance of bond yields in Europe as ECB pulls QE trigger on Monday. Core government bond yields drop but peripheral yields rise. German 10-year government bond yields fall 5.6 basis points to 0.35% while France’s 10-year drop 4.9 basis points to 0.64%. On the opposing side, Greece’s 10-year yields rose by a whopping 48 basis points to stand at 9.56% while Spain saw its 10-year rise by 4 basis points to 1.3%. Worries persist over the outlook of the Greek economy amid continued gridlock between the country's new government and EU politicians.

1112: Technical analysts at Barclays write that it would take a move in Brent futures above the 64.85/66.80 are "to confirm upside traction and make us more bullish towards targets near 72.00 where we would expect sellers to emerge. Support on dips is likely in the 53.50 area."

1106: On Friday,analysts at Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Betfair to 2,030p from 1,550p, albeit while remaining at overweight. Amongst the positives for the stock they pointed out the company's strong growth in regulated markets, improving margins, cash conversion and unique model. The broker also highlighted CCL as a high-conviction short-term idea but caution on JDW.

1058: News out over the weekend suggests Lloyds is preparing to hive off its entire residual exposure to Irish commercial real estate (CRE), which may trigger a further write-back, say analysts at Investec in a research note e-mailed to clients.

1009: 10-year Greek bond yields are rising sharply. They are now up by 50 basis points to 9.97%. Over the weekend Greek Prime Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Italy's Corriere della Sera that should Brussels not accept its reform proposals then Athens could yet call elections again and call for a referendum.

1006: The European Central Bank has reportedly announced the start of its QE programme.

0930: The Sentix index of Eurozone investor confidence rose to 18.6 points from the previous month's reading of 12.4 (consensus: 15).

0840: Property stocks are leading declines on the top flight index early on, led by drops in the shares of Land Securities and British Land. Acting as a backdrop, all eyes are on the start of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme today and this evening’s meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers. As of 08:40 the yield on 10-year German bunds was lower by four basis points and that on equivalent French debt by five basis points. Greek 10-year sovereign bond yields on the other hand could be seen higher by 18 basis points to 9.28%, according to Bloomberg data. The euro/dollar was bouncing back 0.6% to 1.089. Front month Brent crude futures are lower by 0.5% to $59.43 per barrel on the ICE.