LONDON'S top-flight index regained its poise on Wednesday as investors brushed aside geopolitical concerns.
The FTSE 100 Index closed up 27.77 points at 7,313.51 as fears faded over North Korea and the tensions in Spain surrounding the Catalonian independence referendum.
Across Europe, Germany's Dax was up by 0.4 per cent and the Cac 40 in France rose by 0.3 per cent.
David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: "Stock markets in Europe are higher today as dealers overlook the political uncertainties that have been doing the rounds lately.
"The German election, the Catalan question and the North Korea situation were all shrugged off today by investors.
"There has been no new developments on those fronts, so traders felt a bit confident about buying into the market."
On the currency markets, the pound was 0.4 per cent lower against the US dollar at 1.340.
The greenback strengthened after US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen confirmed her support for an interest rate rise on Tuesday.
However, a bright economic update from the UK retail sector helped sterling pare some losses, with sales growing at their fastest pace for two years in the year to September.
Some 56 per cent of retailers reported an increase in sales this month compared with a year ago, while 15 per cent said they were down, giving a balance of +42 per cent - the highest since September 2015, according to the CBI Distributive Trades Survey of 117 firms.
The pound was also down 0.2 per cent versus the euro at 1.138.
In oil, Brent crude dropped 1.2 per cent to $57.83 a barrel after US refiners kicked back into gear following Hurricane Harvey last month.
Focusing on UK stocks, troubled infrastructure giant Carillion saw its shares jump by as much as a quarter on speculation a Middle East investor is planning a takeover bid for the group.
An unnamed Middle East construction firm is understood to be lining up a potential offer for Carillion in the wake of its recent dramatic share price falls.
The suitor is also keen to gain access to the firm's prize London listing, according to the report in City AM.
Shares were up more than 20 per cent, or 9.8p to 56.3p.
However, PZ Cussons saw its stock value tumble after it became the latest firm to warn over a tough consumer market in the UK as Brexit-fuelled inflation puts households under pressure.
The Manchester-based firm, which also makes tanning range St Tropez, said it is "increasingly clear" that shoppers are reining in their spending amid the squeeze on family finances as the weak pound sends the prices of goods and services soaring.
Shares fell more than one per cent, or 5.9p to 323.5p, as the firm said it was seeing tough trading conditions in many of its global markets, "which have been evident in the first quarter and which are expected to continue for the full year".
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were Pearson up 22.5p to 606p, Royal Bank of Scotland up 9p to 270.8p, Lloyds Banking Group up 2.2p to 67.2p, Prudential up 47p to 1,763.5p.
The biggest fallers were Randgold Resources down 175p to 7,300p, National Grid down 17.9p to 925.3p, Fresnillo down 23p to 1,399p, United Utilities down 13.5p to 840.5p.
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 here