City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down nine points from Friday's close of 5,896 as attention remains focused on the Eurozone.

It has been reported that Greece is close to securing the release of the next bailout package, worth €31.5bn.

Speaking in Bucharest at the end of last week, Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said: "I'm confident we're doing everything we have to do in order to get [the deal] and get it soon, so that we can move towards a recovery."

Spain has also been in the spotlight, as the most recent round of regional elections reaches a close. The first results in the region of Galicia show the ruling PP party has won with a majority, when some had feared that it might be punished for the central government's reformist push. Nevertheless, some observers are pointing out that in absolute terms both of the main parties lost votes.

A poor finish in the US on Friday is also likely to weigh down investor sentiment, with some investors highlighting that the weakness in technology stocks may be "telling us something." Likewise, some economists warn that they are seeing a slowdown in global trade, which is a harbinger of an impending economic slowdown.

Speaking of which, data out overnight showed that Japan's exports fell at a quicker year-on-year pace in September than had been expected, of -10.3%.

However, things are looking brighter in the UK, with reports suggesting that economic figures due out later this week will indicate that the country is heading out of a double dip recession and towards recovery.

In company news, BP has confirmed it is in advanced talks with Russian state oil firm Rosneft over the sale of its 50 per cent interest in TNK-BP. The British firm said no agreement had yet been reached and further announcement would be made "if and when" an agreement is reached. Reports say the $27bn (£17bn) plan will see BP sell its troublesome Russian operation and forge a new alliance with the Kremlin.

FTSE 250 oil and gas group Salamander Energy has announced the spudding of the Bualaung B8/38-8 (NW-1) well, making the start of its exploration campaign in the Greater Bualuang area, offshore Gulf of Thailand. The well is testing one of a number of fault terraces to the north west of the Bualuang oil field. Salamander has identified a resource potential of 10-15m barrels of oil in a cluster of prospects to the north of the field.

One of New World Resources' employees was fatally injured at a mine in the Czech Republic at the weekend, the Central Europe-focused coal and coke producer revealed on Monday morning. The incident took place on Saturday October 20th, where a 48-year-old miner was killed around 900m underground at the Paskov Mine of New World's Czech subsidiary, OKD.

Veterinary medicine group Dechra Pharmaceuticals has managed itself into an excellent position. It has made strategic acquisitions in key markets and now has an impressive global footprint to exploit. However, fully exploiting this will need a significant amount of investment. The shares have soared recently, on evidence that the group's strategy is paying off. Friday's first-quarter trading update showed its key US pharmaceuticals business keeping its impressive growth rate of more than 20%. It has been so successful in fact that the shares are now trading at a 40% premium to the European health-care sector on a June 2013 earnings multiple of 15.2 times, falling to 13.4 next year. The future is bright for Dechra, but on valuation terms The Telegraph's Questor team says sell.

NR

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