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. BA shares climbed 12.1p at 198.4p.

Commodity stocks were largely positive as metals prices rose on dollar weakness, although Fresnillo and Randgold Resources slipped lower, down 6p at 835p and 6p at 4,553p, respectively, as gold and silver prices eased from record highs.

Of the rest, Antofagasta was the strongest, up 12.5p at 852.5p, while Anglo American gained 31p at 2,375p and Rio Tinto moved ahead 19p at 2,893p.

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 9.5p at 348.2p, while Hammerson gained 10.3p at 419.3p and Land Securities rose 14.5p at 687.5p.

On the downside with blue chips, profit-takers took the steam out of Rentokil Initial, down 8p at 104p 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 3.5p at 536.5p, despite a surge in third-quarter pre-tax profits.

Household goods makers Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser were also prominant among the losers, down 10p at 1,784p and 10p at 3,020p.

Among the midcaps, sugar refiner Tate & Lyle edged up 3.7p at 460.6p as it reported profits falling in the half year to end-September, despite sales up 7% to £1.82bn in the period.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire