Tonight:
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Stock market investors were feeling the strain on their return to work this morning. The absence of a lead from Wall Street, which was closed on Friday for Independence Day, and a lacklustre performance by Asian markets this morning offered City folk little in the way of inspiration.
So it came as no surprise that the FTSE 100 Index should open 48.22 down at 4188.06 in another day of thin trading.
Deutsche Bank says the mining sector has risen 46% since the start of the year which compares with a 2% decline in the FTSE 100. This means that the weighting of the mining in the index is back to 10%.
Commodity price strength is likely to drive upgrades and bring down stretched market price earnings ratios in the sector, but the stronger operating currencies are likely to take the shine off the commodity price boost to earnings.
Deutsche has raised Antofagasta, 11p cheaper at 586½p, from sell to hold and lifted its target from 317p to 527p along with Kazakhmys, 6½p cheaper at 624p, which sees its target jacked-up from 290p to 675p.
Deutsche has also raised Lonmin's price target from 1031p to 1100p, while continuing to rate the platinum producer at hold. Vedanta Resources is also seen as a hold although its price target is raised from 1003p to 1419p.
Elsewhere among resources stocks, HSBC slashed its target for BP, down 4¼p at 475.1p, from 670p to 570p, but continues to rate the oil giant at overweight. Royal Dutch Shell, 28p lower at 1473p, is cut from overweight to neutral, while BG Group, down 14p at 1010p, is rated overweight with its sights on the share price lowered from 1425p to 1295p.
National Express moved 4p into reverse at 277¾p, amid mounting speculation over the weekend that it may soon tap shareholders for £400 million in order to reduce debt. Citigroup continues to rate the bus and train operator a buy but has slashed its target price from 443p to 360p in the wake of last week's move by the Government to strip the group of its East Coast Mainline rail franchise.
Tokyo shares gave up ground, and the Nikkei 225 Average ended down 135.20 at 9680.87. It has lost some momentum after reaching an eight-month high of 10,170.82 in June, but is still nearly 40% above a trough hit in March. Trading volume was light.
Aeon, Japan's second-biggest retailer, initially fell by more than 1% following reports that it is likely to have logged a two billion yen (£12.9 million) net loss for the three months to May, but later shed its losses to edge higher.
Nippon Yusen and other shippers fell after the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, dropped more than 4%, dented by softer demand for goods.
Hong Kong shares lost ground, hit by lower energy prices and lack of fresh clues on the state of the global economy. The Hang Seng index was down 186.04 at 18,017.36.
Agile Property rose 2% to HK$11.22 after the Chinese property developer said apartment sales for the first half of 2009 totalled £927 million, representing 64% of its annual sales target. Earlier this year, Agile set 2009 sales targets of 16 billion yuan (£1.4 billion) and 2.28 million square metres.
Shares in local property developers fell as home sales dropped at the weekend.
Energy stocks also slid with oil falling below $65 a barrel, extending last week's near-4% drop, as weak economic data continued to cast doubt over the prospects of a global economic recovery and energy demand.
