London's stock market was slightly ahead at the close of trade on Wednesday after sliding on Tuesday.
The benchmark FTSE 100 gained 29.6 points or 0.4% to reach 7,514.90.
Retailer Kingfisher was the worst hit, down 7%, after reporting a first-quarter drop in revenues of 0.6% on the back of weak trading in France.
But High Street retailer Marks and Spencer recovered from a fall at the start of trading and was finished the day 1.47% higher.
Babcock, which had been the biggest FTSE riser on Tuesday, was down 1%.
The fall came despite the support services group announcing a 7.6% rise in annual underlying pre-tax profit.
Other fallers included private hospital operator Mediclinic International, which lost 6.44%, miner Randgold Resources, down 1.45%, and packaging group Smurfit Kappa which shed 1.12%.
The biggest gainers were airline Easyjet, up 3.31%, travel group TUI, which gained 2.8%, water company Severn Trent, which gained 2.49% and advertising giant WPP, which was up by 1.67%.
On the currency markets, the pound was down 0.19% against the dollar to $1.2938 and was also down by a marginal 0.08% against the euro to 1.1583 euros.
