London midday: Stocks hold on to gains

- Merkel backs Draghi's bond-buying proposal- Finland says to prepare for a Eurozone break-up- Lonmin pares losses after violent protestsUK stocks edged higher on Friday morning on the back of positive remarks from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, though gains were also modest with just 19 points separating the intra-day high and low on the Footsie.Oliver Wallin, the Investment Director at Octopus Investments, said this morning that global equities have been fairly flat this week due to little meaningful news flow for investors to "sink their teeth into". Meanwhile, mid-August has traditionally been a quiet time in terms of trading activity."Yields on top-tier government debt have been creeping higher, indicating a potential increase in risk appetite amongst investors, although equity markets are not evidently on the receiving end of that trade at present. With no major policy announcements on the Eurozone expected until September at the earliest, we could well be facing the calm before the storm," he said.Nevertheless, the mood was lifted this morning after Merkel threw her weight behind Mario Draghi's (the President of the European Central Bank) proposal of buying sovereign debt in order to bring down bond yields in indebted countries such as Spain and Italy. She said that Draghi's pledge to do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro" was "completely in line" with the euro-area officials.However, the news has been tempered by developments in Finland, after its Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja warned that countries within the euro area should be preparing for a break-up of the single-currency region. Nevertheless, the country has stated that it is "100% committed to the euro."Lonmin pares losses after violent protestsAfter being a heavy faller early on, Lonmin's losses by lunchtime were only slight. The platinum miner hit the headlines this morning after riot police shot dead dozens of its workforce at the Marikana project in South Africa, as a week of protests over pay have turned the FTSE 250 group's mine into a war zone. It is thought that around 35 people have now been killed since violent clashes erupted a week ago.While trade unions have blamed Lonmin for the trouble, saying that their negotiations with employees outside of union structures had started the protests, the firm's Chairman Roger Phillimore said last night that this "is clearly a public order rather than labour relations associated matter."Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds were in demand today as banking stocks across Europe made gains on improving developments in the Eurozone. Water group Pennon was sinking after saying that trading at its waste management unit Viridor has been significantly below the high level of the first half of the previous fiscal year with recyclate prices remaining under pressure. ?Electrical components maker Laird jumped after UBS upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', saying that the upcoming launch of Apple's iPhone 5 should drive growth in the second half.?Casino and online gaming group Rank advanced after saying that revenues in the 12 months to June 30th rose 3.4%, while pre-tax profits jumped 9.0%. Premier Oil fell after reporting that it has plugged and abandoned the Chim Sao North West appraisal well in Vietnam after failing to find indications of hydrocarbons. FTSE 100 - RisersJohnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,400.00p +3.49%Barclays (BARC) 191.85p +3.03%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 33.96p +2.96%ARM Holdings (ARM) 589.50p +2.43%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,777.00p +2.24%GKN (GKN) 224.90p +1.90%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,066.00p +1.72%CRH (CRH) 1,138.00p +1.70%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 281.40p +1.66%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,181.00p +1.64%FTSE 100 - FallersAnglo American (AAL) 1,930.50p -2.23%Pennon Group (PNN) 736.00p -1.80%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 662.00p -1.34%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 368.40p -1.07%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,474.00p -0.71%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,004.00p -0.71%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 225.80p -0.70%Diageo (DGE) 1,688.50p -0.68%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 652.50p -0.68%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,744.00p -0.63%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 73.85p +5.50%Chemring Group (CHG) 330.30p +5.39%Rank Group (RNK) 131.30p +4.46%Ruspetro (RPO) 150.00p +4.38%Laird (LRD) 224.60p +4.32%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 199.70p +3.90%Redrow (RDW) 140.50p +3.84%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 530.50p +3.82%Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,565.00p +3.23%International Personal Finance (IPF) 309.10p +3.14%FTSE 250 - FallersIP Group (IPO) 126.00p -3.08%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,953.00p -3.05%Avocet Mining (AVM) 90.40p -2.53%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 103.60p -1.71%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,044.00p -1.51%ITE Group (ITE) 200.00p -1.23%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 532.00p -1.02%Sports Direct International (SPD) 299.40p -0.89%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 423.30p -0.80%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 565.50p -0.79%BC