British Airways was the best blue chip performer, despite reporting a record loss before tax of £292m in the half-year to end-September and as CEO Willie Walsh called for the unions to withdraw plans for a strike ballot and resume talks, investors preferring to highlight the slowing of the rate of decline in premium traffic. BA shares climbed 12.5p at 198.8p.

Commodity stocks were largely positive as metals prices rose on dollar weakness, with gold futures touching a new high of $1,100 an ounce.

Antofagasta closeed up 13.5p at 853.5p, while Anglo American gained 42p at 2,386p, Rio Tinto moved ahead 43p at 2,917p and Randgold Resources recovered from a weak start to add 35p by the close at 4,594p.

Commercial property stocks attracted attention as Segro announced it has sold Great Western Industrial Park in Southall, West London for £110.4m. Segro shares lifted 7.1p at 345.8p, while Hammerson gained 5.5p at 414.5p and Land Securities rose 13.5p at 686.5p.

On the downside with blue chips, profit-takers took the steam out of Rentokil Initial, down 7p at 105p the biggest blue chip casualty of the session, as the conglomerate revealed adjusted profit before tax was £49.6m, up 114.7% (81.5% Constant currency) in the third quarter.

Prosthetics maker Smith & Nephew dropped 4p at 536p, despite a surge in third-quarter pre-tax profits.

Oil majors lost ground as crude slipped below $78 a barrel, with Shell off 12p at 1,754.5p, BG Group down 17p at 1,078.5p and BP 3.2p lower at 583.9p.

Among the midcaps, sugar refiner Tate & Lyle added 7.6p at 464.5p, although it reported profits falling in the half year to end-September, despite sales up 7% to £1.82bn in the period.

Broadcaster ITV rose 0.16p at 48.96p, shrugging off news that STV Group is set to file a £35m counter-claim against it, alleging abuse of video-on-demand rights. The move follows ITV's legal action against STV for a potential net figure of £15m-£20m.

Housebuilder Galliford Try ticked up 0.5p at 345.5p after it said the encouraging start to its financial year in housebuilding had continued into the autumn selling season.