The FTSE 100 stood 0.3% below the opening level in late afternoon.
Gold miner African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) led the blue chips with gains of 4.2% and 3%.
Specialist banking group Investec (LON:INVP) and mining major Anglo American (LON:AAL) added 2.1% and 1.4% respectively.
Scottish & Southern Energy (LON:SSE) rose 1.1%.
Clothing retailer Next (LON:NXT) and British Gas parent company Centrica (LON:CNA) were at the bottom of the pile with losses of 2%.
Mobile operator Vodafone (LON:VOD) and power generation company International Power (LON:IPR) declined 1.8%. Oil & gas
BP (LON:BP) lost 1%, while fellow supermajor Shell (LON:RDSB) rose marginally, as did Tullow Oil (LON:TLW).
BG Group (LON:BG) declined 1% and Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) posted a small loss.
Amec (LON:AMEC) was sitting just below the opening level. Another engineering firm Petrofac (LON:PFC) was flat.
Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) and Soco International (LON:SIA) led the midcaps with gains of over 2%.
JKX Oil & Gas (LON:JKX) and Premier Oil (LON:PMO) advanced 1.2% and 1% respectively.
Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL) shed 1.3%, while Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) declined marginally.
Energy sector focused investor Xtract Energy (LON:XTR) and Mongolia operating Petro Matad (LON:MATD) were among the top performing small caps, rallying 15% and 14% respectively.
Iraq operating Petrel Resources (LON:PET) and oil and gas investor Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) added 7% and 5% respectively.
Mining
Precious metals
Gold producers African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) surged 4.2% and 3% respectively. Platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) advanced 1.1%, while silver producer Fresnillo (LON:FRES) shed 1%.
In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) and Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) rose 2% and 2.5% respectively. Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) climbed 3.5%.
Investment holding company focused on gold and copper-gold prospects Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) was among the leaders in the sector with a 6.5% gain.
Gold and silver explorer Condor Resources (LON:CNR) and Philippines focused gold producer Medusa Mining (LON:MML) also did well, rising 5%.
Base metals
Anglo American (LON:AAL) climbed 1.4%, while Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) added 1%.
Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) rose marginally.
Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) was little moved.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) declined 1.4%.
BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) shed less than 1%.
London's only listed pure iron ore producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) climbed 2.5%, while fellow FTSE 250 constituent Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR) advanced 3%.
Coal production and processing company Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) led the sector, soaring 60%.
Russia operating copper and nickel miner Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) followed, surging 31%.
Gold and base metals focused exploration and development company Thor Mining (LON:THR) rallied 17.5%.
Herencia Resources (LON:HER), which is developing the Paguanta zinc-lead-silver-gold project in Chile, and Canada focused Landore Resources (LON:LND) advanced 13% and 12% respectively.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Part-nationalised banks Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and Lloyds (LON:LLOY) declined 1.6% and 1.35% respectively.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was down 1%.
HSBC (LON:HSBA) declined marginally and Barclays (LON:BARC) was flat.
Not much was happening in the insurance sector today.
Aviva (LON:AV), Legal & General (LON:LGEN), Prudential (LON:PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) declined marginally.
Car insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM) retreated 1.2%.
Old Mutual (LON:OML) and Standard Life (LON:SL) did better, posting small gains.
Private equity group 3i (LON:III) added 1%.
Small cap movers
Other notable movers among the small caps included provider of push email and synchronization services Synchronica (LON:SYNC), which rallied 17.5%.