Miners help blue-chips stage partial recovery Mining shares led the FTSE 100 higher in early trading, as the blue-chip index staged a partial recovery from its China-induced fall yesterday. London's benchmark index added 26 points, led by Vedanta Resources, which gained 3.9pc, and Roman Abramovich's Evraz, which advanced 3.6pc. The blue-chips slid 0.6pc on Thursday as weak data stoked fears of over the Chinese economy. Meanwhile, Essar Energy topped the FTSE 250 with an increase of 5.5pc, while the mid-cap index itself was 68 points better off this morning. Back among the large-cap stocks, analysts at Espirito Santo argued that the proposed merger between BAE Systems, up 0.2pc, and EADS is unlikely to go ahead in its current form. They said there is a large risk of "political obstruction from the US" and added the current offer is not "sufficiently compelling" for shareholders in the British group. BAE investors who are looking for dividend yield or seeking a "low-cyclicality investment" are likely to be resistant to the deal, the analysts argued. "For these investors, the merger looks like a takeover with minimal bid premium, and with a valuation low-point as a starting point," they said. Towards the bottom end of the FTSE 100, National Grid lost 0.9pc on a downgrade to "underweight" from "neutral" at JPMorgan. "Grid faces a potentially challenging 6 months with final regulatory decisions due for its UK regulated businesses (December), Rhode Island businesses (January) and upstate New York businesses (March)," the broker said. The early indications have not been positive with challenging preliminary announcements in all three jurisdictions. Pearson, however, was boosted 2pc by an Exane BNP upgrade to "outperfrom" from "neutral." The broker argued the company is "a key beneficiary from the move to digital learning."