Market overview: S&P puts BHP, Anglo and Rio on 'credit watch negative'

1630:Close UK stocks ended the day slightly lower, weighed down by weaker than expected Chinese trade numbers. To take note of, on Monday the World Bank trimmed its forecasts for economic growth in developing East Asia to 6.7% for this year and next, from the 6.9% and 6.8%, respectively, which it projected back in October. In parallel, a raft of analysts – including Citi, UBS and S&P – lowered their price forecasts for iron ore. Shares in Aviva were lifted by positive comments out of Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. Acting as a backdrop, markets continued closely tracking the results of the latest – and conflicting - election poll results. Morgan Stanley pushed its forecast for UK GDP growth this year slightly higher, to 2.7%. In the same breath, the bank’s analysts said they now see euro/dollar falling below parity this year. FTSE 100 down 25.47 points to 7,064.30.

1544: S&P has placed several iron ore producers on 'credit watch negative', including diversified miners BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Rio Tinto, after revising down its price forecasts. "We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placements in the coming two to three weeks after reviewing the effect on each issuer's financial and business risk profiles," the agency said.

1538: Tesco is among the worst performers in the aftermath of a research report on Friday from Barclays, which said the retailer could follow in the footsteps of Morrison and Sainsbury by taking a large property impairment in its annual results on 22 April - "c£3bn does not seem an unreasonable estimate", Barclays said.

1535: Despite significant disruptions to production copper prices have fallen year-to-date. To analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch that suggests “the commodity is on track to move into surplus and we see prices fall below $5,000/t ($2.26/lb) next year.”

1525: S&P has cut its forecasts for the iron ore price per tonne to $45 for 2015, $50 for 2016 and $55 for 2017, from earlier estimates of $65, $65 and $70 respectively. "Our price revision moves closer to the current forward price curve and available market data, which in our view reflect a severe supply and demand imbalance in the market, which we believe could persist for the next two years," the agency said.

1414: Today's weakness in dollar/yen is being linked by some to a report citing an advisor to Japan's PM according to whom a level of 105 for dollar/yen is appropriate, with 120 being too weak given the current level of purchasing parity.

1355: The French Treasury's auction of €6bn in bills has met with very strong demand, with the bid-to-cover ratios for the different tranches of three, six, and twelve month debt all jumping sharply higher.

1310: Today's move lower in the single currency is being attributed by some to the decision taken by the Moroccan central bank to cut its weighting in the euro to 60% from 80%, while boosting that of the US dollar in its managed exchange rate.

1226: As the cost savings from the Friends Life transaction begin to filter through and the dividend rises there is scope for shares in life insurer Aviva to re-rate, analysts at Morgan Stanley write today. “Given the significant 21% underperformance of Aviva shares versus the SXIP since the announcement of the Friends transaction, we see significant scope for a re-rating. On simple earnings metrics, Aviva is trading at a material discount to key European peers (such as AXA and Allianz), with the gap to UK life names such as L&G especially wide.” The broker has kept its overweight recommendation but raised its target price on the stock to 633p. JP Morgan Cazenove has reinstated its overweight recommendation and 622p target.

1140: Analysts at Barclays, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have all reportedly weighed in with positive recommendations on Aviva following the closure of its purchase of Friends Life. FTSE 100 down 31 points to 7,058.60.

1048: UBS has also lowered its iron ore price forecast by 20-30% to $48-55 a tonne at 62% Fe for 2015-2019. It has also slashed its long-term estimate (beyond 2020) by 27% to $55, which is said is the price needed to balance seaborne supply and demand, "given ongoing cost deflation, producer FX tailwinds, loss tolerance and closure costs". As part of its revisions, UBS has downgraded iron ore producer Ferrexpo from 'neutral' to 'sell', saying it now expects iron ore to suffer a "super down cycle".

1029: In a note entitled “It’s the end of the Iron Age” analysts at Citi have lowered their price targets on the shares of 19 mining companies (Centamin Egypt and Vedanta are the exceptions) following a downward revision to their iron ore price forecasts for this year and next. The broker now sees the metal trading at an average price of $45/tonne in 2015 and $40/tonne next year. Hence, their view on the mining and metal space falls to 'neutral'. “Under this backdrop we believe the upside in the sector is now capped, however the downside is being protected by dividend yield.” FTSE 100 down 22 points to 7,067.57.

0900: The Footsie has begun the morning on a dour note on the heels of weaker than expected Chinese trade data and a downbeat research note from Citi on the mining sector. Fresnillo is one of the few exceptions in the mining sector after Bank of America upgraded the stock to a ‘buy’. The same broker however has downgraded its recommendation on shares of Barratt Developments to an ‘underperform’ from ‘neutral’. Chinese exports dropped by 14.6% year-on-year in March, well below the increase of 8.2% which analysts had pencilled in. Nevertheless, analysts at Unicredit and others are pointing to the fact that they rose by 48.9% in the prior month. FTSE 100 down 15 points to 7,075.50.