London midday: Stocks pare losses but market cautious

- Eurogroup delays Greek aid- MPC minutes show 8-to-1 vote in favour of maintaining QE- Johnson Matthey and Compass lower after resultsUK stocks had trimmed losses by Wednesday lunchtime but was trading within a narrow range as investors remain cautious following an inconclusive meeting of Eurozone finance ministers about Greece last night.The Eurogroup was unable to thrash out an agreement on how to finance a two-year extension in Greece's commitments. "I don't know when [the aid disbursements] will happen," said Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker after the meeting in Brussels. "Greece has delivered, now it is up to us." While some of the country's lenders - such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland (the other Troika) - are willing to consider a temporary suspension of interest payments, they refuse to put more money on the table. "The inability to agree on some of the finer details regarding the deal indicate a much more wide-ranging and long term solution than was first expected by investors and Greek politicians alike," said research analyst Joshua Mahony from Alpari."The ability to pass austerity measures and a new 2013 budget were seen as the two stumbling blocks with which the Greek parliament had to pass in order to receive this required funding. Yet it is clear that a number of further measures are being brought to the table to accompany this."The FTSE 100 was swinging between gains and losses for most of the morning session, while most other benchmarks across Europe were moderately in positive territory. Stateside, stock futures were pointing to a flat start on Wall Street with volumes expected to remain low as investors await a barrage of economic data ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow.MPC voted 8-to-1 in favour of keeping QE unchangedThe minutes of the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting came out this morning, showing that eight of the nine members voted to maintain the size of its asset purchases at £375bn. Barclays Research analyst Chris Crowe said that the minutes were supportive of the current stance: "standing back from further stimulus for the time being, but ready to do more if the economy continues to disappoint."In other domestic news, UK public sector net borrowing came in at £8.6bn last month, up from £5.9bn in October 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics. The consensus estimate was for net borrowing to the tune of £6bn. FTSE 100: Johnson Matthey sinks after cautious outlookPlatinum refiner Johnson Matthey was a heavy faller after reporting a 6% drop in pre-tax profits in the first half and saying that it doesn't expect things to pick up in the latter part of the fiscal year. Chief Executive Neil Carson said: "Whilst precious metal prices have improved from their lows during the summer, largely due to the labour unrest in South Africa, the outlook in some of our other markets has weakened and visibility remains limited. We therefore expect that the group's performance in the second half will be similar to the first half of the year."  Contract caterer Compass sank early on but had pared losses by lunchtime following the announcement of its full-year results. The company saw profits break through the billion-pound barrier in the 12 months to the end of September though it did caution about the challenging economic environment in Europe. Heading the other way was United Utilities after water industry regulator Ofwat clarified proposed changes to water companies' licences. "The softening of Ofwat's stance on a Competition Commission referral reduces the near-term risk of negative newsflow," said analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sector peer Pennon was also in demand.Real estate peers Land Securities and British land were high risers this morning after Morgan Stanley upgraded its ratings on the stocks to 'overweight'. Meanwhile, the same broker lifted its recommendation for banking group Lloyds to 'equal weight', providing a lift to shares. Xstrata and Glencore continued to rise after shareholders yesterday voted in favour of their propped merger. The Financial Times reported this morning that the tie-up is expected to win the approval from the European Commission this week, citing people involved in the process.FTSE 250: Talvivaara to restart production in FinlandNickel miner Talvivaara Mining rose after announcing that it has received a permit to restart the metals recovery plant at its Sotkamo nickel mine and expects full production to resume by November 25th. Production had been temporarily suspended since November 4th following a gypsum pond leak at the mine.Sports apparel group JD Sports Fashion was higher after seeing like-for-like sales growth pick up slightly in the third quarter despite seeing what it labelled as a "tough" environment. Imagination Technologies has said that it has become aware that MIPS Technologies, a US computing company which Imagination is set to acquire, has received an unsolicited proposal from CEVA to acquire all of its outstanding shares. Shares tanked early on. Car and bike parts retailer Halfords dropped after saying that full-year profits will be slightly below consensus estimates. FTSE 100 - RisersUnited Utilities Group (UU.) 674.50p +2.35%British Land Co (BLND) 523.50p +1.65%Xstrata (XTA) 1,001.00p +1.46%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,569.00p +1.42%Aviva (AV.) 339.90p +1.40%Glencore International (GLEN) 336.35p +1.39%Land Securities Group (LAND) 787.50p +1.35%ARM Holdings (ARM) 734.50p +1.10%BG Group (BG.) 1,042.00p +1.07%Pennon Group (PNN) 609.50p +0.91%FTSE 100 - FallersJohnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,177.00p -6.37%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,058.00p -2.31%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,545.00p -1.87%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 270.40p -1.67%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,947.00p -1.67%Kingfisher (KGF) 273.30p -1.66%Vodafone Group (VOD) 159.60p -1.66%Evraz (EVR) 227.00p -1.35%Pearson (PSON) 1,181.00p -1.25%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,990.50p -1.24%FTSE 250 - RisersTalvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 109.30p +3.41%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 730.00p +2.82%Bumi (BUMI) 275.00p +2.69%Pace (PIC) 181.10p +1.86%Telecom Plus (TEP) 877.00p +1.62%Ted Baker (TED) 969.50p +1.62%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 76.50p +1.32%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 193.30p +1.20%PayPoint (PAY) 855.00p +1.18%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,375.00p +1.18%FTSE 250 - FallersLonmin (LMI) 285.00p -8.27%Halfords Group (HFD) 325.10p -5.77%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 232.50p -3.41%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 227.10p -3.36%IP Group (IPO) 109.50p -2.93%NMC Health (NMC) 172.00p -2.82%Micro Focus International (MCRO) 570.00p -2.73%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 429.10p -2.65%HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd (HICL) 122.00p -2.48%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,300.00p -2.40%BC