Shares in Marks & Spencer lifted after the retailer posted a better-than-expected rise in half-year profits despite a further fall in sales at its embattled clothing arm.
The chain's stock rose almost three per cent after it said underlying pre-tax profits rose 6.1 per cent to £284 million in the six months to September 26 thanks to higher food sales and as it focused on profit margins in its general merchandise business, which includes womenswear.
Gains from M&S and commodities giant Glencore helped the wider FTSE 100 Index add 29.3 points to 6412.9. However, the market had been more than 60 points up earlier in the session.
France's Cac 40 was up 0.5 per cent, while Germany's DAX fell by 1%. In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly down in early trading.
The pound was up a cent against the euro at just under 1.42, after a rise in PMI services data in October, which also saw rises in manufacturing and construction earlier in the week. Sterling was slightly lower against the US dollar at just under 1.54.
Signs that Glencore is getting on top of its mammoth debt mountain gave the mining sector a boost, after the firm said it was on track to reduce its debt to $20 billion (£13 billion) from $30 billion.
Glencore topped the leaderboard, up five per cent or 6.4p to 125.9p, with Anglo American also ahead 17.2p to 579.1p.
Marks & Spencer saw shares rise 14.5p to 535p as its forecast-beating profit hike overshadowed figures showing second quarter like-for-like sales in its clothing division dropped by 1.9 per cent.
The fall, which followed a 0.4 per cent drop the previous quarter, came after M&S took the decision not to join widespread discounting on the high street and after trading was hit by poor weather over the summer.
Housebuilders were suffering a second session of heavy falls as a profit warning from estate agency Countrywide compounded gloom after a raft of downgrades across the sector from Liberum on Tuesday.
FTSE 250 firm Countrywide said earnings in its first nine months of the year to the end of September were 11 per cent down compared to a year ago.
It added that due to "short-term pressure on market volumes", it expected its full-year earnings would be less than the £121.1 million it made last year.
A bullish update from Persimmon failed to halt the rout, with Taylor Wimpey the biggest faller in the top flight with a fall of four per cent or 7.4p to 180.3p.
Berkeley was 104p lower at 3092p and Persimmon fell 62p to 1859p, despite posting a 12% hike in private home sales over its third quarter.
Countrywide shares dived 52.6p to 412.4p in the second tier - a fall of 11%.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Glencore up 6.4p at 125.9p, Morrisons up 6.6p at 177.5p, G4S up 7.6p at 252.1p, and Anglo American up 17.2p at 579.1p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Taylor Wimpey, down 7.4p at 180.3p, Berkeley Group down 104p at 3092p, Persimmon down 62p at 1859p and British Land down 22p at 835p.
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