Market overview: Cable follows euro lower, drops below 1.5

1630:Close Stocks registered a small bounce despite weak data out of China overnight which fanned worries over that economy. That came before a slightly disappointing reading on the UK’s industrial sector. Acting as a backdrop, cable dropped below the 1.5 mark, loosely tracking weakness in the euro versus the greenback. M&A activity continued to be a hallmark of current trading with shares in Domino Printing on fire after being taken over. On the top flight index, Coca Cola HBC was the worst performer on the back of a renewed rise in Greek sovereign debt yields. FTSE 100 up 18.67 points to 6,721.51.

1613: Analysts at Barclays say "Tesco begins to appear interesting to us" citing the company's 7% free cash flow yield.

1601: In a research note e-mailed to clients Nomura points out that European oil services firms' order backlogs will not trough until the second half of 2016.

1500: MPC's Weale sounds a hawkish note on Bank Rate, saying the decision of whether to raise or lower rates is "finely balanced".

1406: Cable has dropped below the psychological 1.50 level. Acting as a backdrop, a PBoC adviser has been cited as saying that the CNY's trading band may be widened. Strategists at Barclays have cut their Chinese GDP forecast for 2015 to 6.8% from 7%.

1312: Euro/dollar continues to drop like a stone and is now to be seen trading below 1.06, off by 0.9% at last count at 1.0586. "After today’s speech it does not appear that Draghi is willing to help prop up the EUR, which the market may see as another reason to sell the single currency," says Kathleen Brooks, Research Director at Forex.com.

1201: Broker Investec said it expected positive read-across from the £1bn takeover offer from Japan's Brother for Domino Printing Sciences. "We expect the news to generate some excitement in the sector around Xaar, e2v, Oxford Instruments, Dialight, Gooch & Housego and possibly Spectris, which could all be highlighted as potential bid targets. The same is true for some of the industrial engineering stocks. Analysts also pondered whether $4.5bn Brother might face counter offers from competitors in coding and marking – Danaher or Dover. It said the bid was being driven by the need to compete in the field of digital printing.

1200: Shares in Coca Cola HBC are retreating as Greek 10-year sovereign bonds get socked again. The yield on those instruments is now 44 basis points higher at 10.44%.

1113: Burberry is among the best performers on the FTSE in London, up 2% after appointing Fabiola Arredondo as a non-executive. Arredondo, once named by the WSJ as the most influential businesswoman in Europe, has previously held senior roles at Yahoo, the BBC and Bertelsmann. She currently works as a managing partner at US investment firm Siempre Holdings. Chairman John Peace said he was "delighted" by the appointment: "[Arredondo's] international business experience including in the technology, media and luxury retail sectors will be a great asset to Burberry as we continue to focus on delivering long-term shareholder value."

1003: Analysts at Citi have replaced Intesa with Standard Chartered in their Citi Focus list, while elsewhere adding Shire. The US broker has also downgraded its recommendation on Thomas Cook to neutral.

0930: Factory output slipped 0.1% on the month by and 1.3% in year-over-year terms, according to the Office for National Statistics. Expectations were for an increase of 0.2% month-on-month and 1.4% on the year.

0902: The Footsie has started the day higher despite the overnight tumble on Wall Street, as investors race to adjust to the impact of the ECB’s QE programme and the unexpectedly quick and sharp drop in the value of the single currency – with oil futures being one notorious victim so far. Weak data this morning out of China may reinforce the impression that all may not be quite as stable as might seem. “These weaker figures raise the chances of further action by the Chinese authorities to give demand growth another leg up,” Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Berenberg writes to clients in a research note today. UK industrial production figures due out at 08:30 will also be closely watched, as will the latest debt auctions in Germany and Italy. FTSE 100 up 22 to 6,725.10.