The FTSE 100 trimmed gains to 58 points (1 percent), pulling back to 6,000 by mid afternoon. The FTSE 250 rallied 133 points (1.1 percent) to 12,029 and the FTSE AIM 100 index declined 13 points (0.3 percent) to 4,107.
Asset management firm Schroders (LON:SDR), Imperial Tobacco Group (LON:IMT) and InterContinental Hotels Group (LON:IHG) led the blue chips, surging 3 percent.
BG Group (LON:BG) was at the bottom of the pile with a 1.7 percent loss.
Oil & gas
Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) gained nearly 2 percent, as did Cairn Energy (LON:CNE). Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) rallied 2.3 percent. BG Group (LON:BG) moved in the opposite direction, shedding 1.3 percent.
Service company Wood Group (LON:WG) added 1 percent.
Premier Oil (LON:PMO) and Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL) led the midcaps, surging 3.5 percent. JKX Oil & Gas (LON:JKX) rose 1.2 percent, while Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) dropped 1.1 percent.
Oil and gas sector focused investor Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) was among the top performing small caps, rallying 10 percent.
Mining
Precious metals
Mining companies were doing well today. Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) climbed 2.2 percent and 1 percent respectively.
In the FTSE 250, Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) advanced 3.2 percent and Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) tacked on 1 percent.
Oxus Gold (LON:OXS), the only publicly listed gold mining company with primary operations inside the Republic of Uzbekistan, was among the top risers in the sector, surging 16 percent. Fiji operating Vatukoula Gold Mines (LON:VGM) rallied 9 percent.
Base metals
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) emerged atop the sector with a 2.2 percent gain. Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) added 2 percent. Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) tacked on about 1.5 percent.
Thermal coal mine developer Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) and Russia operating Amur Minerals (LON:AMC), which is focused on copper and nickel, led the juniors, soaring 16 percent and 13 percent respectively.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) led the banks, rising 2.1 percent. Barclays (LON:BARC), HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Lloyds (LON:LLOY) rose 1.6 percent.
Insurance stocks were in demand today. Admiral Group (LON:ADM) and Prudential (LON:PRU) added just over 2 percent. Aviva (LON:AV) and RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) tacked on 1.6 percent and 1 percent respectively.
Small cap movers
Other notable risers among the small caps included DiamondCorp (LON:DCP), which soared 11.5 percent. Urals Energy (LON:UEN) also did well, climbing 6.5 percent.