London midday: FTSE 100 nearly erases year-to-date gains

After a bright start, the FTSE 100 had sunk sharply into the red by Monday lunchtime with the index having nearly erased all of the impressive gains made since the start of the year.The Footsie was trading 1.05% lower by midday at around 6,052, compared to an intraday high of 6,132 reached early on. The index is now marginally above the level at which it started off in January, just after US leaders agreed to avert the so-called 'fiscal cliff'.Just over a month ago, on May 22nd, the index stood at a 13-year high of 6,840 before fears of an impending 'tapering' of US stimulus sparked a huge sell-off on equity markets worldwide. These fears were compounded last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that the central bank could soon start to scale back quantitative easing if economic data continues to improve."We're not seeing any signs yet that investors are looking to get back in, however a correction is surely around the corner," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari."European indices are down more than 10% since hitting 2013 highs last month and the reaction to Bernanke's comments has been a little over the top," he added.Dampening sentiment this morning was the news that Goldman Sachs has joined a growing list of brokers to cut its growth forecast for China for this year and the next. The investment bank now expects China to grow by only 7.4% in 2013 compared to the previous 7.8% estimate. For 2014, Goldman now anticipates a 7.7% expansion compared to the prior 8.4% forecast."The liquidity tightening is another indication that the new government has put priorities on tackling the structural problems," Goldman said. "These policies help to foster more sustainable medium-term growth, but will test the government's tolerance for a cyclical downturn," the broker said.FTSE 100: Miners hit by China concerns; banks fall into the redMining stocks were under pressure this morning on concerns over slowing growth in China and the effect this will have on the demand for commodities. Antofagasta, Vedanta, Glencore Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were all registering moderate losses by midday.However, ENRC was bucking the trend despite its founding shareholders and the Kazakhstan government launching a lower 234.3p-a-share (£3.03bn) offer for the miner, well below an earlier £3.3bn proposal.Rio Tinto, meanwhile underwhelmed this morning with the decision to keep hold of its diamonds business, saying that market fundamentals remain robust with growing demand for luxury goods in Asia and continued strong demand in the US. Banking stocks were also under pressure this morning with Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and StanChart trading in the red. RBS was also lower, erasing earlier gains after its rating was upgraded by Investec from 'sell' to 'hold'.Vodafone was subdued after confirming its intention to acquire Kabel Deutschland, Germany's biggest cable company, for more than £8.5bn. Supermarket peers Sainsbury and Morrison were under the weather today after Citigroup downgraded its ratings on the stocks to 'sell' and 'neutral', respectively. Tesco, immune from a downgrade given that the broker already rates it as a 'sell', edged higher.FTSE 250: Kazakhmys drops after ENRC offerKazakhmys - which would only receive $0.89bn for its 26% stake in ENRC - dropped sharply this morning after saying that while the offer undervalues ENRC, it is the only option for shareholders given that the risks of further erosion of its stake are "considerable".Oil group Essar Energy was higher after narrowing its annual losses as revenue grew on the back of higher refining volumes at the energy company's Refining and Marketing Indian business.FTSE 100 - RisersSevern Trent (SVT) 1,644.00p +1.86%United Utilities Group (UU.) 658.50p +1.46%Aggreko (AGK) 1,649.00p +1.23%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 218.80p +0.88%Capita (CPI) 951.00p +0.79%Kingfisher (KGF) 334.00p +0.45%Vodafone Group (VOD) 176.00p +0.09%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 783.00p +0.06%Amec (AMEC) 991.00p +0.05%FTSE 100 - FallersVedanta Resources (VED) 1,044.00p -4.83%Croda International (CRDA) 2,292.00p -3.45%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,413.00p -3.42%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 269.50p -3.23%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 353.10p -3.05%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,122.00p -2.86%Fresnillo (FRES) 885.00p -2.85%Wolseley (WOS) 2,940.00p -2.78%TUI Travel (TT.) 336.20p -2.69%CRH (CRH) 1,259.00p -2.63%FTSE 250 - RisersKenmare Resources (KMR) 25.90p +6.58%Essar Energy (ESSR) 123.50p +3.78%Man Group (EMG) 80.95p +2.73%Anite (AIE) 131.70p +1.46%Interserve (IRV) 490.70p +1.36%Computacenter (CCC) 414.30p +1.30%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 182.00p +0.66%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 222.40p +0.63%British Empire Securities & General Trust (BTEM) 478.00p +0.50%ICAP (IAP) 381.10p +0.45%FTSE 250 - FallersDixons Retail (DXNS) 39.02p -8.87%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 32.60p -8.45%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 247.10p -8.28%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 80.50p -5.85%Ashtead Group (AHT) 606.50p -5.75%Evraz (EVR) 103.10p -5.67%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 147.30p -5.15%Inchcape (INCH) 451.20p -5.11%Sports Direct International (SPD) 510.50p -5.02%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 115.70p -4.54%