By Kit Rees
LONDON (Reuters) - Declines for Next and Standard Chartered were not enough to derail Britain's top share index which was lifted on Wednesday by a rally in commodities-exposed stocks.
Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 (FTSE) index was up 0.2 percent at 7,505.57 points by 0950 GMT, while mid cap stocks (FTMC) rose 0.7 percent.
The FTSE gave up some gains following robust UK manufacturing data, which bolstered expectations for a rate rise from the Bank of England on Thursday and sent sterling higher.
A 6 percent plunge in Next's (L:NXT) shares was among main moves on the benchmark index after the clothing retailer said that trading was "extremely volatile".
Next's shares had gained around 38 percent since hitting a low in July, but were on track for their biggest one-day fall in 10 months on the day.
Shares in fellow retailers Marks & Spencer (L:MKS) and Primark-owner AB Foods (L:ABF) also fell 4.3 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.
"We're heading into Christmas and it's just a little bit hard to know what to expect from the retail sector given the volatility of the sales we've seen," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.
"When inflation's going higher, the Bank of England's about to the raise rates and consumer spending's falling off a cliff, all those things don't combine well for people selling on the high street," Lawler added.
Results also weighed on bank Standard Chartered (L:STAN), which sank more than 6 percent, on track for its biggest one-day loss in almost a year after higher expenses overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly profit.
Miners helped support the index, however, with Anglo American (L:AAL), Antofagasta (L:ANTO), BHP Billiton (L:BLT) and Glencore (L:GLEN) among the biggest gainers, up between 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent after the price of copper jumped. [MET/L]
Outsourcer G4S (L:GFS) was also among top FTSE gainers, rising 3.6 percent following an upgrade from broker Jefferies, who raised their rating on the stock to a "buy" from "hold".
"The shares have underperformed due to disappointing Q2 organic revenue growth but momentum should recover in H118E driven by improving emerging markets and US wage inflation," analysts at Jefferies said in a note, referring to the first half of 2018.
Outside of the blue chips, mid cap pharma firm Indivior (L:INDV) saw its shares surge 11 percent after the U.S. FDA backed approval for Indivior's opioid addiction drug.