London midday: Stocks rebound but sentiment fragile after heavy sell-off

The FTSE 100 rebounded from five-month lows on Friday morning after comments from the Federal Reserve prompted a dramatic global market sell-off the day before.London's benchmark index tumbled an eye-watering 189 points on Thursday, falling 2.98% to 6,160 as markets reacted to comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said that quantitative easing could come to a complete halt in 2014 if the economic recovery gains momentum. Disappointing factory-activity data from China also hammered sentiment yesterday, sending the UK index to lows not seen since mid-January.According to Bloomberg this morning, more than $1.8tn was lost from the value of global equity markets on Thursday. Government bonds and commodities markets were also under heavy selling pressure yesterday."Equity markets have bounced from their lows this morning after a session of heavy selling yesterday that followed the Fed's potentially hawkish update on Wednesday," said Matt Basi, Head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets. "Much desk discussion this morning has been devoted to the nature of the move higher, with sceptics convinced that we're witnessing a dead cat bounce whilst more optimistic traders expect a leg higher following yesterday's shake out."With no major economic data from Europe and the US today, China was again in focus on concerns over a credit crunch after interbank funding rates reached record highs yesterday. Rates have pulled back sharply today with reports suggested that the People's Bank of China could have intervened.Miners edge higher after sell-offMining stocks, which bore the brunt of the sell-off yesterday, were again volatile this morning, swinging between gains and losses. Rio Tinto, Randgold and Antofagasta were in positive territory, while Fresnillo and Polymetal were firmly out of favour.Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton edged higher after saying that it has sold further 15% of its Jimblebar iron ore project to Japanese companies Itochu and Mitsui for $1.5bn.Aberdeen Asset Management and Man Group, two stocks that have also recently been battered by the ongoing market volatility, were making gains this morning rebounding after some heavy falls on Thursday.Oil and gas group Afren was in the red after Jefferies downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'hold'. Security solutions group G4S was also taken down a peg by Panmure Gordon, which cut the stock from 'buy' to 'hold', saying that the shares are "finely poised" between the bull and bear case.Meanwhile, supermarket peers Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison were making gains after Nomura said that "things are looking a little better" in the UK grocery market. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lombard Medical's next-generation Aorflex delivery system for commercial use, a major milestone for the AIM-listed medical technology firm, causing shares to riser.Online dating group Cupid fell after seeing half-year earnings more than halve despite decent top-line growth as it spent more on improving its offering.FTSE 100 - RisersBunzl (BNZL) 1,273.00p +3.24%CRH (CRH) 1,320.00p +3.12%TUI Travel (TT.) 350.90p +3.08%Antofagasta (ANTO) 847.50p +2.79%BT Group (BT.A) 312.70p +2.73%SABMiller (SAB) 3,198.50p +2.73%Diageo (DGE) 1,884.00p +2.47%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,807.00p +2.38%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,701.00p +2.15%ITV (ITV) 139.00p +2.06%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 916.00p -4.63%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 294.80p -2.93%Polymetal International (POLY) 530.00p -2.03%Serco Group (SRP) 595.50p -1.41%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 424.20p -1.35%BG Group (BG.) 1,170.50p -1.06%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,323.00p -1.05%G4S (GFS) 236.10p -0.63%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,267.00p -0.55%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 119.20p -0.42%FTSE 250 - RisersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 71.45p +8.92%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 324.40p +5.87%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 43.88p +4.48%ICAP (IAP) 381.30p +4.38%NMC Health (NMC) 298.50p +4.22%Rank Group (RNK) 158.10p +4.01%Man Group (EMG) 81.80p +4.01%Beazley (BEZ) 224.30p +3.41%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 376.90p +3.37%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 920.50p +3.20%FTSE 250 - FallersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 220.90p -5.96%Inchcape (INCH) 485.20p -5.51%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 181.20p -5.33%Petropavlovsk (POG) 125.60p -3.46%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 865.50p -3.30%SDL (SDL) 282.30p -2.01%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 116.10p -1.61%Afren (AFR) 121.50p -1.54%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 292.30p -1.28%Devro (DVO) 305.50p -1.20%