Britain's top share index rose on Wednesday, regaining half the previous day's fall and bucking a three-day slide, buoyed by earnings news and US data in a volatile session that was overshadowed by the hazy eurozone debt-crisis outlook. Mining and oil firms were among the best performers, helped by rising crude and metals prices, as well as earnings from the likes of Randgold Resources, while those from retailer Next and satellite firm Inmarsat also helped.
The FTSE 100 swung in a 110-point range before settling up 1.2 percent, or 62.53 points, at 5,484.10. It had fallen 2.2 percent on Tuesday and 5.2 percent over the course of the previous three days. The closing level left the blue chip index just above the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of its August selloff, although some 300 points off the previous week's intraday high.
While buyers had emerged to buy on dips, given the scale of the recent selloff, the underlying tone was still bearish, traders said. Bond markets mirrored the sentiment as peripheral eurozone bond yields continued to remain high. "Most of the buying we've seen is people topping up on defensive positions into a little bit of weakness earlier, and people closing down short positions," Andy Ash, head of sales at Monument Securities, said.
After falling sharply on Tuesday on Greek plans for a referendum on its bailout package, German, French and Greek leaders met for crisis talks in Cannes and the latter was told it had until mid-December to decide if it wants to stay in the eurozone.
The meeting comes before a G20 leaders' meet in the same city on Thursday which will discuss the debt crisis and global growth outlook, which is showing signs of further dislocation between Europe and the United States. Mike Cuthbert, head of financials at Canaccord Genuity, said the market was still "very, very twitchy either way... it's very hard to trade this market at the moment. It swings around on the moves of the politicians. The normal rules of investment have often been suspended."
Earnings news also provided some support, with Randgold Resources up more than 7 percent after it posted a strong gain in third-quarter output and profit, and said it was still looking at a record fourth quarter. Among the other gainers, Next ended up 6.5 percent after online sales helped it to a third-quarter beat, while Inmarsat ended up nearly 4 percent as it also beat forecasts.
Worst hit throughout most of the session was Lloyds Banking Group , down 4.4 percent in volume more than three times its 90-day daily average after its Chief Executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, decided to take a surprise temporary break citing ill health. The chunky volume, ahead of its trading update on November 8, helped push volume on the broader index to nearly 150 percent of its 90-day average, which made it much more active than the German and French bourses.
Fellow lender Standard Chartered was also among the fallers after it posted a slowdown in third-quarter income growth, even though it remains on track for a record year. While volatility on the FTSE pulled back slightly over the course of the day, down 4 percent, with some of Tuesday's sellers buying back in at a profit, Trevor Coote, head of equity sales at Alexander David Securities, said he remained bearish over the short term.