Top-flight shares benefited from the falling pound on Wednesday, but sterling sank as fears rose about the health of the property industry after the EU referendum.
The FTSE 100 Index increased 11.54 points to 6556.91 amid the prospect of UK exports becoming cheaper for overseas buyers.
But the FTSE 250 Index, which is more focused on companies with a lot of business in the UK, took another tumble, falling 81.04 points to 15,653.64.
The pound fell against the dollar by 0.67% to US$1.29, down to fresh 31-year lows, after yesterday’s news that M&G was joining Aviva PLC (LON:AV.) and Standard Life PLC (LON:SL.) in halting redemptions from property funds.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: “With cable now below US$1.30 and the GBP/EUR teetering just above €1.17, the pound has seen yesterday’s horror-show trading continue into this morning’s European session, sparking another round of losses for the property sector.”
And property stocks were indeed on dodgy foundations, with Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) and Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.) falling 3.7% and 2.8% respectively.
Joining them at the bottom of the pile were supermarkets Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) and W Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) amid concerns about falling food prices, which dropped 0.8% last month.
But precious metal miners and defensive stocks were on the up as investors sought cover from turmoil.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Randgold Resources PLC (LON:RRS) were the among the biggest winners this morning, both up around 4% to 9700p and 1966p respectively.
Small-cap indices were off, with the FTSE AIM All-Share down 2.57 points at 702.58 and the FTSE AIM 100 retreating 13.78 to 3332.94.
Kolar Gold Limited (LON:KGLD) twinkled by a third to 1.6p as the Indian-focused miner on news of a US$2.4mln funding injection for extra drilling within its Geomysore Mining Services arm.
Industrial investor Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRO) lifted 32% to 541p as it agreed to buy heating and air conditioning maker Nortek and launched a £1.65bn rights issue.
Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP) also got a 13.3% boost to 17p as the cancer drug developer unveiled upbeat data from its SCIB1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial in malignant melanoma.
But video technology business Vislink PLC (LON:VLK) lost nearly half its value to 16.5p as it warned on annual profits after slower order intake in the second quarter.
And electronic security systems provider Newmark Security PLC (LON:NWT) backtracked 37.5% to 1.75p after it blamed tougher trading for its own full-year profit warning.