The FTSE 100 was roughly unchanged from the opening level in early afternoon.
Defence and aerospace systems manufacturers Cobham (LON:COB) and BAE Systems (LON:BA) led the FTSE 100 with gains of 2.5% and 2.2% respectively.
Bank Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.3% loss.
Oil & Gas
BP (LON:BP) declined 1.2%, while fellow supermajor Shell (LON:RDSB) posted a small gain.
Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) climbed 1%, while other FTSE 100 constituents BG Group (LON:BG) and Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) lost nearly 2%.
Amec (LON:AMEC) stood just above the opening level. Another oil and gas engineering firm Petrofac (LON:PFC) shed 1%.
Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) led the midcaps, climbing 2.4%. Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) and Soco International (LON:SIA) added 1.5% and 1% respectively.
JKX Oil & Gas (LON:JKX) posted a small gain.
Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL) moved in the opposite direction, shedding 1.6%. Premier Oil (LON:PMO) declined marginally.
Service company Wood Group (LON:WG) added 1.2%.
Ukraine operating gas producer Regal Petroleum (LON:RPT) and energy sector focused investor Xtract Energy (LON:XTR) were among the top performers in the sector, advancing 19% and 11.5% respectively.
Mining
Precious metals
Major mining stocks were mixed.
Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) advanced 1.8%. Gold producer Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) rose marginally, while peer African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) shed 1% and platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) decined marginally.
In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) retreated 2.1%. Gold miner Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) posted a small loss.
Silver producer Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) held steady.
Ethiopia operating gold miner Nyota Minerals (LON:NYO) climbed 7.5%.
Base metals
Most miners were on the rise today.
Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) was in the lead with a 2% gain.
Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) advanced 1.6% and 1.3% respectively.
Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) tacked on just over 1%.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) held steady.
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) declined marginally.
London’s only listed pure iron ore producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) added less than 1%.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Lloyds (LON:LLOY) posted a small gain.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) lost 3.3%.
Barclays (LON:BARC), HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) declined marginally.
Not much was going on in the insurance sector today. Legal & General (LON:LGEN), Old Mutual (LON:OML), RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) and Standard Life (LON:SL) rose marginally, while Aviva (LON:AV) and Prudential (LON:PRU) posted small losses.
Admiral Group (LON:ADM) was down 1.35%.
Private equity group 3i (LON:III) was sitting just below the opening level.