London midday: Stocks rise but Eurozone still in focus

- G8 underwhelms as euro crisis continues to hamper sentiment- Cameron warns Eurozone to anticipate Greek exit- Barclays to offload BlackRock stakeThe FTSE 100 had held on to early gains by Monday lunchtime, as the blue-chips index rebounds from hitting a six-month low on Friday. US stock futures were also pointing to a bounce on Wall Street after the opening bell."The gains have been minimal though as investors remain concerned about the Greek vote next month and the prospect of a Greek exit which is sure to have a massive impact on the rest of Europe, especially the fragile economies of Spain and Italy," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.As expected, the Group of Eight (G8) world leaders this weekend spent a great deal of time focusing on efforts to promote global economic growth and particularly on the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis while showing their support for Greece remaining in the single currency. "We agree on the importance of a strong and cohesive Eurozone for global stability and recovery, and we affirm our interest in Greece remaining in the Eurozone while respecting its commitments," the joint communiqué said.Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the summit that Greece is voting on whether to stay part of, or exit, the single currency - "the Eurozone has to put in place the most robust contingency plans for both eventualities," he said. Meanwhile, there were reports over the weekend regarding pressure from the European Union on Spain to ask for a credit-line from the International Monetary Fund for its troubled financial sector. In other news, there were rumours that China could act to counter a slowdown after Premier Wen Jiabao called for "putting stabilising growth in a more important position". According to the Chinese Securities Journal, the world's second-largest economy could announce stimulus measures in the near term. FTSE 100: Financials, resource stocks provide a liftThe financial and resource sectors were making gains today, rebounding after a poor showing last week as they bore the brunt of the Eurozone-fuelled sell-off.Hedge fund manager Man Group jumped after saying it is set to pay up to $142.8m for FRM Holdings, a global hedge fund research and investment specialist. Man and FRM's combined multi-manager business will have total funds under management of approximately $19bn, making it the largest independent non-US based fund of hedge funds. Global banking group HSBC rose after completing the sale of 195 US retail branches to First Niagara Bank for $0.9bn, first announced in July last year. Barclays was on the rise after announcing its intension to dispose of its entire holding in BlackRock.The transaction will be by way of an offering and related buyback by Blackrock itself, and is likely to cost around £3.8bn based on the valuation at the close of trading last Friday.Mining stocks were broadly higher on the back of stimulus hopes in China with Vedanta and Evraz making gains as copper prices ticked higher. However Fresnillo and Randgold were in the red as precious metals prices came under pressure.Real estate investment trust British Land rose after revealing profits ahead of expectations and net asset value (NAV) growth in the 12 months to the end of March. Underlying profits before tax rose 5.1% while NAV grew 4.9%. Talk of a petrol price war was suppressing appetite for supermarket shares, with Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons both among the worst performers.FTSE 250: Resources on the rise, Lamprell drops after downgradeResource stocks were leading the risers on the second-tier index as copper and oil prices edge higher. Heritage Oil, Petropavlovsk, Afren, Ferrexpo, Cairn Energy, Wood Group and Talvivaara Mining were all making decent gains by midday.Heading the other way though was oil, gas and energy engineer Lamprell after Nomura downgraded its rating from buy to reduce on the back of last week's profit warning. "We believe Lamprell's execution and operational strategy is fundamentally at risk and we were wrong to previously assume the company had turned a new leaf. In our view, the root cause of the problems announced lies with management's inability to execute lump-sum contracts," analysts said.Newsletter publisher and exhibitions organiser Informa fell after sticking with its full-year guidelines despite admitting that renewal and new subscriber cycles are taking longer than they used to. FTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 79.90p +6.11%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,005.00p +4.85%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,517.00p +3.48%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.53p +2.70%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 146.40p +2.59%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,524.00p +2.56%IMI (IMI) 880.00p +2.50%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,317.00p +2.37%British Land Co (BLND) 500.00p +2.31%Aggreko (AGK) 2,080.00p +2.26%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 1,333.00p -1.84%Centrica (CNA) 312.00p -0.95%Tesco (TSCO) 311.20p -0.80%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,862.00p -0.65%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,645.00p -0.60%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 269.70p -0.55%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 970.00p -0.51%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 462.70p -0.49%United Utilities Group (UU.) 619.50p -0.48%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 291.30p -0.48%FTSE 250 - RisersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 125.20p +8.77%Petropavlovsk (POG) 406.90p +3.91%Cairn Energy (CNE) 295.00p +3.15%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 217.50p +3.08%Afren (AFR) 112.30p +3.03%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 706.00p +2.99%Henderson Group (HGG) 95.60p +2.96%Hunting (HTG) 741.00p +2.35%Inchcape (INCH) 319.50p +2.34%Inmarsat (ISAT) 399.70p +2.28%FTSE 250 - FallersLamprell (LAM) 113.80p -5.95%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,700.00p -5.43%Informa (INF) 365.10p -4.90%Bumi (BUMI) 369.80p -4.32%Ocado Group (OCDO) 104.40p -3.60%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,148.00p -3.53%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 143.10p -3.18%Savills (SVS) 314.00p -3.06%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 363.90p -2.96%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 494.70p -2.81%BC