Overnight Asian trade was sedate ahead of a raft of information releases this week, as the FTSE indices were mixed across the board. The Primary FTSE 100 index closed down -0.78% as mining stocks sold off quite aggressively. This was prompted as oil came off recent trade highs last week, with oil traders taking profits after a three week rally.

Ted Baker (+6.8%) was the biggest winner of the day, as investors got on board with a ratings upgrade to Buy (Hold) with a reduced target price of 3000p (3400p).

By far the largest mover of the day was St. Ives as the stock price almost halved (-48%) to 118p at the time of writing. The St. Ives sell-off was triggered as the media company issued a trading update declaring earnings will be “materially below” expectations for both this year and the next, despite recording trading as in line with management expectations thus far. The group pointed to clients cancellation or deferral of media projects attributed to global economic uncertainty.

Sterling saw a boost to six-week high against the euro, with a one month peak on a trade weighted basis to reach 77.52 pence per Euro in early Asian trade. This was prompted as Obama came out in support of the EU ” Remain” camp, perhaps part scaremongering and part truth, but the declaration that it would take 10 years to secure a trade deal with the US changed the pricing of the June 23 referendum outcomes at the bookmakers. This saw a swing of roughly 11 percentage points from 37% on Thursday the chances of Britain voting to leave the EU to c. 26% on Monday, according to the Betfair betting exchange. Sterling also gained 0.4% against the dollar to $1.4460 on the sentiment.

At the close European indices were down with the FTSE 100 -0.78%, with the CAC 40 -0.52%, and the DAX 30 -0.76%.