Market overview: FTSE 100 finishes down 6

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1630: Close Stocks finished the day lower, hit in part by disappointing US retail sales figures, which rained down on investor sentiment both here and abroad. Nevertheless, trading for the entire session had been dominated by Moody's which last night lowered its outlook on the sovereign debt of the UK, France and Austria to negative, whilst downgrading the ratings of six others. A better-than-expected German ZEW survey did its bit to boost buying early on. On the corporate front, banks and miners were sold off following the sovereign downgrades while Bunzl (Frankfurt: A0ET3E - news) led the risers after a broker upgrade. The FTSE 100 closed down 6 points at 5,900. 1514: UK stocks are still in the red following weaker than expected retail sales data out Stateside this afternoon. Of interest in the equity space, back in London, financial-software maker Misys (Xetra: 944235.DE - news) continues to lead gains on the FTSE 350, possibly on the back of a report that the firm, "has attracted interest from buyout firms and would consider alternatives to that deal if they're deemed better for shareholders, two people familiar with the matter said," Bloomberg reports. Also worth noting, two new upgrades on Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) from Exane BNP and Shore Capital. FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) down 20 to 5,886. 1418: FTSE 100 is down 13 at 5,892, with miners and bankers continuing to weigh down the blue-chip index. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) are the most heavily traded stocks, with Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) - the third most heavily traded - seeing less than a third of the turnover of Lloyds. As the Singapore air show rumbles on, aircraft components firm Meggitt (Xetra: 395760.DE - news) and aerospace-cum-defence company BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) are both going well. 1237: FTSE 100 is up 8 at 5,914. Footsie (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) is barely in positive territory, a state that looks likely to be replicated in the US, where Wall Street is expected to open marginally higher. Risers outnumber fallers among FTSE 100 constituents by about six-to-four, with RBS the biggest faller in the wake of Moody's downgrade of the credit ratings of several Eurozone countries, while Bunzl is carrying the flag for the avant garde, after JP Morgan Cazenove upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'overweight', with a 985p target price. 1041: The Footsie has swung into the blue in the last half hour after the German ZEW investor sentiment survey came in well ahead of expectations. The ZEW expectations index increased by 27 points to 5.4 points in February, up from -21.6 last month, smashing forecasts of a -11.6 reading. This is the first time the index has been in positive territory since May 2011. "The further increase of economic sentiment indicates that the recent slowdown in economic growth isn't likely to last in the view of the surveyed financial market experts," ZEW said. FTSE 100 up 8 at 5,913. 1002: The Footsie is still in the red on the back of the news that the UK's AAA rating is now at risk. However, the Footsie is slightly off its intraday lows, now trading just 11 points down (-0.18%) at 5,895. Barclays Capital analyst Simon Hayes said: "The perceived need to press ahead with fiscal austerity to avoid a downgrade may provide a useful political counterbalance to criticism that the government is cutting the deficit too aggressively, an accusation that may well grow in volume following tomorrow's labour market statistics which are likely to show a further rise in unemployment." Meanwhile, CPI (Berlin: CEJ.BE - news) inflation fell to 3.6% last month, down from 4.2% in December. It now stands at its lowest level since November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) 2010. 0938: Footsie has dipped back below 5900 but the fall is almost entirely down to weak miners, which have reacted more adversely to the slew of downgrades for European debt announced by credit ratings agency Moody's than has the wider market. Utilities (Santiago: UTILITIES.SN - news) such as SSE (Frankfurt: A0RFBG - news) and United Utilities are offsetting some of the losses, as is InterContinental Hotels Group, which is marginally firmer after publishing its full year results. FTSE 100 is down 17 at 5,889. 0828: The threat by ratings agency Moody's to downgrade the UK's debt rating has largely been taken in stride by investors. Moody´s lowered its outlook on the UK's sovereign to 'negative,' largely because of two factors: the agency now sees less of a cushion for the British economy to absorb unforeseen negative surprises due to a weaker growth environment and the still risky situation in the Eurozone, which Moody´s believes could yet deteriorate again and lead to a worsening in funding conditions. The decision does not come as an enormous shock, and the top-share index is already recovering after initially falling to 5,882: the FTSE 100 is now down just 14 at 5,892, largely as a result of weak mining companies. Sector titans BHP Billiton (Hamburg: BHP1.HM - news) and Rio Tinto (Berlin: CRA1.BE - news) are both weaker after rubber-stamping the $4.5bn investment in ramping up production at the Escondida copper project in Chile (Berlin: G4R.BE - news) .