UK blue chips closed down Wednesday but well off their lowest levels as a rally on Wall Street encouraged buyers into the market.
However, lower commodity prices led to falls in mining and oil stocks, preventing a total turnaround on the FTSE 100.
At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 21.3 points at 5,150.6, having been as low as 5,071.1.
The Royal Bank of Scotland was the most traded stock, seeing 356 million units change hands, followed by Barclays which saw 173 million shares switch owners.
Building materials group Wolseley was the day's worst performer, dropping 18 pence -- or 6.20 percent -- to close at 272.25 after it said trading conditions had worsened and it was scrapping its final dividend.
Merrill Lynch responded by reiterating its 'underperform', saying the outlook seems very weak, while Landsbanki made further cuts to its estimates and remained 'hold'.
The day's second-biggest loser was miner Xstrata, which lost 182 pence -- or 4.89 percent -- to close at 3538.
Commodity stocks helped to drag blue chips lower in the wake of falling metals and oil prices, and after Rio Tinto said on Wednesday morning that all miners were grappling with input costs.
On the upside, insurer Admiral Group topped the leaders board, gaining 76.50 pence -- or 10.8 percent -- to close at 783.
It was followed by interbroker dealer ICAP who rose 36.75 -- or 8.80 percent -- to close at 454.50 after it said first-quarter revenue grew by 15 percent compared with the same period the previous year.
Numis Securities said market concerns that bank de-leveraging was negatively impacting the group should now be allayed, and added that for the company to be comfortable with the market consensus full-year pretax profit forecast of 375 million pound, it must believe that it can actually do better.
Source: AFP European Edition
