London midday: Stocks hold on to gains

- Glencore-Xstrata merger dominates the headlines- Eurozone announcement could be near, says analyst- Chinese stimulus hopes lift stocksLondon's FTSE 100 had come off its intraday highs by lunchtime but was still trading firmly in the blue, with solid gains in the mining sector providing a lift."While the stocks are not making significant moves higher, they are holding on to recent gains which suggests there is a belief that the Eurozone are about to turn a corner," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. "This could be in the form of central bank intervention, or a move by the Eurozone leaders to use the bailout funds to bring yields to sustainable levels. We may have to wait until the middle of September for this, but there is a feeling that a big announcement is near," he said.In domestic news, UK public sector net borrowing in July was £600m, compared with a surplus of £2.8bn the year before. Economists had forecast a surplus of £2.2bn.The People's Bank of China last night ramped up its reverse-repurchase operations, injecting 220bn yuan ($34.6bn) into the financial system. Meanwhile, state-run news agency Xinhua said that China is considering fresh stimulus for the second half of the year. FTSE 100: Glencore-Xstrata tie-up "not a must-do deal"Shares in Xstrata were higher by lunchtime in spite of Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg saying that the proposed merger of the two companies is "not a must-do deal". Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, he said: "If we don't do it now, we can do it in the future."Glencore was trading in the red despite beating profit estimates in the first half. Nevertheless, adjusted EBITDA still slipped 17% year-on-year on the back of falling commodity prices.Mining stocks on the whole were making gains this morning, helped higher on hopes that a stronger Chinese economy would boost the demand for commodities. Kazakhmys, Vedanta, Fresnillo, Anglo American and Polymetal were among the best performers.Banking group Barclays was a high riser after announcing that it is looking at combining the majority of its operations in Africa with its subsidiary Absa Group, in line with its strategy to operate as 'One Bank' across the continent. Lending peers RBS and Lloyds were also in demand. FTSE 250: Oil peers Heritage and Ophir provide a liftOil group Heritage jumped after saying that it would sell Genel Energy its 26% interest in the production sharing contract relating to the Miran Block in Iraq.Sector peer Ophir Energy also gained after saying that it has successfully encountered gas at the Fortuna East-1 step out exploration well on Block R, Equatorial Guinea, as well as in the deeper Viscata exploration target.FTSE 100 - RisersVedanta Resources (VED) 952.00p +2.92%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,529.00p +2.34%Anglo American (AAL) 1,957.00p +2.22%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 731.50p +2.09%Evraz (EVR) 264.40p +2.01%Barclays (BARC) 194.70p +1.99%Aviva (AV.) 331.40p +1.97%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 236.10p +1.90%Polymetal International (POLY) 944.50p +1.89%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,497.00p +1.77%FTSE 100 - FallersAshmore Group (ASHM) 352.60p -0.79%Rexam (REX) 433.40p -0.76%IMI (IMI) 908.00p -0.66%Carnival (CCL) 2,165.00p -0.64%Centrica (CNA) 327.30p -0.55%BP (BP.) 449.70p -0.51%Aggreko (AGK) 2,265.00p -0.48%Capita (CPI) 735.50p -0.47%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,329.00p -0.45%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 766.50p -0.45%FTSE 250 - RisersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 190.50p +13.33%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 38.83p +5.43%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 549.50p +4.57%WH Smith (SMWH) 595.00p +3.84%IP Group (IPO) 128.90p +3.78%International Personal Finance (IPF) 318.70p +3.47%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 447.90p +3.44%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,985.00p +3.29%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 496.00p +3.29%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 433.70p +3.26%FTSE 250 - FallersAmlin (AML) 378.70p -2.67%Persimmon (PSN) 690.00p -2.13%Essar Energy (ESSR) 108.70p -1.90%Premier Farnell (PFL) 190.80p -1.65%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 191.50p -1.64%Interserve (IRV) 349.30p -1.61%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 822.50p -1.56%Hays (HAS) 81.80p -1.21%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,312.00p -1.20%Redrow (RDW) 140.60p -1.19%BC