The FTSE 100 dropped sharply on Thursday morning but by midday had recovered around half its losses, down 45 points at 7,472.
Helping pare losses were gains for travel companies such as British Airways owner IAG and Premier Inn hotels operator Whitbread as government ministers said Britain could scrap all mandatory Covid testing for vaccinated passengers returning from holiday.
This also helped the likes of airlines easyJet and Wizz Air, plus airport concession group SSP.
Clothing chain Next was the first retailer out of the blocks with a post-Christmas update, saying trading was better than expected. This led management to make their fifth profit upgrade of the year.
In small cap news, computer games group Team17 announced two acquisitions, one for up to 46 million pounds and another 40 million dollars.
Shares in MGC Pharmaceuticals shot up after it announced approval for its ArtemiC rescue supplement from Indian regulators.
SRT Marine Systems sailed ahead after winning a new order with a national coast guard.
And there was a nutty 4% rise in the shares of Dekel Agri-Vision after it began production at its cashew processing plant in the Côte d'Ivoire / Ivory Coast.