The UK's top share index edged into positive territory for the first time in more than a week despite further gloom over the eurozone economy.
Figures from the 18-country region showed retail sales fell 1.6% in December, offsetting a rise the previous month and exceeding the 0.5% fall forecast by economists. It also represented the biggest monthly decline since May 2011.
But the FTSE-100 Index shrugged off the figures to rise 8.6 points to 6457.9 as investors moved to pick up bargains in the wake of the recent sell-off.
The mood in London was helped by more encouragement from the dominant services sector following another strong reading in the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index.
While the score of 58.3 represented the third month in a row of slowing growth, the performance was still well above the long-run trend.
The pound failed to receive a boost, remaining largely flat at 1.63 US dollars and 1.21 euros.
One of the biggest gains in the top flight came from RSA Insurance as the market reacted to news that former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester has taken over as chief executive.
RSA shares finished 3% higher after Tuesday's announcement and were up by another 5% or 4.6p to 103.6p.
Temporary power supplier Aggreko fell 26p, or 1.65%, to 1548p amid reports five million shares had been sold by an institutional investor.
Chip designer ARM Holdings rose 17.5p to 892.5p as investors returned to the company in the wake of a sharp sell-off on Tuesday after its warning of slower demand for high-end smartphones.
Fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown topped the FTSE 100 Index fallers board despite results showing an 11% rise in half-year profits to £104.1 million, a performance boosted by demand following the Royal Mail flotation.
The figure missed City expectations as Hargreaves said lower interest rates on cash holdings caused profits growth to lag behind a 43% hike in funds under management.
Shares were 152p lower at 1345p, a fall of 10%.
GlaxoSmithKline shares rose 2% or 25.5p to 1579.5p as it returned to revenue growth after two years of falling sales, albeit with a modest 1% rise.
Fashion chain French Connection shares rocketed by 19% - up 7p to 43p - after it said robust Christmas trading was expected to lead to lower-than-feared annual losses of around £4.7m, down from £7.2m the year before.
The biggest FTSE-100 risers were Tullow Oil up 56p to 849.5p, RSA Insurance ahead 4.6p at 103.6p, Associated British Foods 121p stronger at 2883p and William Hill 9.2p higher at 343.9p.
The biggest FTSE-100 fallers were Hargreaves Landsown off 152p at 1345p, Tate & Lyle down 17p at 755.5p, Sage 7.6p weaker at 407.2p and Imperial Tobacco 38p lower at 2189p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article