Government services group Serco (LON:SRP) led the FTSE 100 with a 3.3% gain.
Engineering company GKN (LON:GKN) and fashion house Burberry (LON:BRBY) climbed 2%.
Financial Times publisher Pearson (LON:PSON) and hospitality company Whitbread (LON:WTB) tacked on 1.6%.
BP (LON:BP) was at the bottom of the pile with a 1.65% loss.
Hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG), defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LON:BA), software developer Autonomy Corporation (LON:AU), African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) and chipmaker ARM Hodlings (LON:ARM) shed 1%.
Oil & Gas
Supermajors were in decline with BP (LON:BP) slipping 1.65% and Shell (LON:RDSB) posting a small loss.
BG Group (LON:BG), Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) and Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) tacked on less than 1%.
Amec (LON:AMEC) held steady. Another engineering firm Petrofac (LON:PFC) stood just above the opening level.
Midcaps were mixed.
Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL), Premier Oil (LON:PMO) and Soco International (LON:SIA) climbed 1%.
Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) posted a small gain.
Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) lost 1%, while JKX Oil & Gas (LON:JKX) declined marginally, as did service company Wood Group (LON:WG).
North Sea oilfield developers Xcite Energy (LON:XEL) did well, climbing 5%.
Mining
Precious metals
Most mining stocks were in decline today.
Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) bucked the trend, posting a small gain.
Another gold producer African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) lost 1%, while silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) declined marginally.
In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) dipped 2.4%, while silver producer Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) and gold miner Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) posted small losses.
Base metals
Base metal miners were headed in different directions today.
Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) climbed 1%. Anglo American (LON:AAL), Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) rose marginally.
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT), Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) posted small losses, as did FTSE 250 constituent Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO).
Another midcap Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR) advanced 1.2%.
Banks, insurance private equity
Lloyds (LON:LLOY) led the banks with a 1.2% gain.
Another part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) lost 1%.
HSBC (LON:HSBA) posted a small loss.
Barclays (LON:BARC) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) rose marginally.
Not much was going on in the insurance sector.
Admiral Group (LON:ADM), Aviva (LON:AV) and Old Mutual (LON:OML) were little moved.
Prudential (LON:PRU), RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) and Standard Life (LON:SL) added less than 1%.
Legal & General (LON:LGEN) declined marginally.
Private equity group 3i (LON:III) climbed 1.3%.