Market overview: Stocks end higher despite Fed talk

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - 1630:Close Select financials did best on the top flight index on Monday, offsetting renewed falls in miners after Nomura slashed its targets for a wide swathe of the sector. Nonetheless, three-month copper futures on the LME managed to close up buy 0.1% at $5,270 per metric tonne. That came amid some reports of a rebound for existing home sales in China. Against that backdrop, and in what was a very light day in terms of macroeconomic data, investors focused on 'hawkish' remarks from a raft of Fed speakers over the weekend. To take note of, Monday marked a negative day in terms of the M&A-related news flow after Zurich Financial decided to suspend talks to buy RSA. Fed chatter aside, Chinese manufacturing sector data scheduled for release on Wednesday were expected to be widely followed. FTSE 100 up by 4.60 points to 6,108.71. 1555: Analysts at Nomura on Thursday attributed the circa 22% fall in PetraDiamonds's share price since its end-July trading update to "weakness in the diamond market and higher capex spend at Cullinan." That delays the inflection point in the company's free cash flow by one year to 2017, they explained to clients. Nonetheless, it kept its target on the shares at 190p. In other research, the broker lowered its targets on a a swathe of miners, including for Glencore and Kaz Minerals. Its target on the former was cut 120p from 230p and that for the latter to 100p from 200p.

1332: "The Fed is struggling with a basic dilemma: how to normalize US monetary policy without the Dollar going through the roof. We have in the past estimated that policy normalization in the US could push the Dollar 15% stronger on a trade-weighted basis, which - together with our expectation for additional easing from the ECB and BoJ - is why we forecast the Dollar to rise more than 20% through end-2017," say strategists at Goldman Sachs today.

1200: Barclays has upped its target price on Shire to 5,700p and upgraded to overweight. M&A prospects cap the downside from current levels. Furthermore, work on lifitegrast points to 880p of upside per share under a $3bn peak sales scenario. Shares look cheap on a p/e of 16 and PEG of 0.9 while offering double the growth of its EU peers.

1136: Analysts at Credit Suisse believe the outperformance by shares of Wolseley versus the sector and the index in the last three years - thanks to its margin and market share expansion in the US - can be maintained. They see a multi-year growth opportunity Stateside and up their target price to 490p from 440p. The stock has also been added to the Swiss broker's European and Global Focus lists.

1037: William Hill's digital potential "seems undervalued (at our TP of GBp 420, digital would be worth 14x EV/EBITA)," analysts at Exane BNP Paribas write. "Following the flurry of M&A in the gaming space over past weeks, investors seem to think that William Hill needs to plunge into the M&A pool in order to keep growing and fight off competition. We disagree." 1030: StanChart is under pressure after a report in the FT according to which the bank continued to seek new business from Iranian and Iran-connected companies even after committing in 2007 to stop working with such clients.

1000: According to financial blog Betaville SAB Miller has appointed Goldman Sachs as defence advisers, meaning they expect Anheuser-Busch Inbev and 3G to come up with a formal offer. Yet given what has occurred with RSA today, SAB Miller may be more cautious about allowing the Brazilians to carry out 'due dilligence'.

0930: Stocks started the morning lower on follow-through selling from the losses seen on Wall Street last Friday. Nevertheless, they have since recovered despite the hawkish rhetoric out of several Fed speakers this past weekend. Shares in RSA cratered after Zurich Insurance pulled out of talks regarding a possible £5.6bn bid for the British outfit. Further afield, shares in German carmaker Volkswagen were also down by a similar amount following revelations it had cheated for years on US air pollution tests. Shire was the best performer on the top flight index following news of EU approval for its ADHD Intuniv drug. FTSE 100 up 17.06 to 6,121.16.