Market overview: Lloyds preparing sale of second tranche of TSB shares

1327: Analysts at broker Liberum have slashed their price target on outsourcing giant Serco due to the multiple issues which the company is facing. Nevertheless, they do see room for improvement. The broker has slashed its target on the stock to 300p from 350p, while reiterating its ‘hold’ recommendation.

1217: Lloyds preparing sale of second tranche of TSB shares after end of lock-up period, Reuters reports citing sources.

1133: Old Mutual has launched the initial public offering of its subsidiary, OM Asset Management, which is the holding company of its US-based institutional asset management business. The group revealed it is planning to sell 22m shares in the business, equal to a stake of 18.3%, at a range of between $15.00 and $17.00. The FTSE 100 is down 83.52 at 6,690.11.

0945: Tesco's 12-week market share dropped to 28.8% from 30.2% over the previous period, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

0930: Mortgages for home purchase decreased in Augus to 41,588, versus forecasts for a reading of 42,913. The public sector's net borrowing requirement rose to £10.9bn in August from -£1.1bn in the month before (consensus: £10.2bn).

0827: UK stocks have started the day lower, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. Shares of Tate&Lyle are the worst performer, by far, after the company cut its profit outlook. Shire and AstraZeneca are also down after a move from the US Treasury to make tax inversion deals more difficult. The ‘flash’ German manufacturing sector purchasing managers’ index for the month of September retreated to 50.3 from 51.2. Miners are registering a small bounce after a slightly better than expected reading on China’s manufacturing sector this morning. UK public finance figures are due out at 09:30. FTSE 100 down 38 to 6,736.