Britain’s top share index moved higher on Wednesday, led by mining and energy stocks aided by firmer commodity prices and bullish broker comment, while investors cheered results from Land Securities.

Landlord and developer Land Securities topped the FTSE 100 leader board, rising 7.1 per cent after posting a double-digit rise in full-year net asset value and a 14 per cent jump in pretax profit.

The results lifted sentiment among real estate companies with British Land and Hammerson up 6.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively.

FTSE index was up 51.52 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5,912.52 points , recouping much of the previous session’s losses when the index fell 1.1 per cent after downbeat housing data in the U.S. knocked sentiment late on Tuesday.

“The market at the moment is focusing on the underlying strength of corporate earnings and they’re looking positive and on upward curve,” Commerzbank economist Peter Dixon said.

India-focused refiner and power generator Essar Energy (ESSR.L) rose 3.5 per cent, with traders citing an upgrade from Morgan Stanley as a catalyst for the shares after results in the previous session.

Miners and integrated oils enjoyed respite from their recent sell-off as oil and base metals rallied. Oil rebounded more than $1 on Wednesday as a surprise drop in gasoline stocks allayed concerns about weaker demand ahead of the peak summer driving season.

Gas and oil producer BG (BG.L) gained 1.8 percent as UBS upgraded its rating to “buy” from “neutral”, imploring investors to buy on recent weakness, while reiterating its positive stance on BP (BP.L), up 1.2 per cent.

“The macro environment will continue to be supportive for the European oil and gas sector and as a result we remain positive on the sector as a whole,” UBS analyst Jon Rigby said.

“We expect oil prices to remain high with the risk to our forecasts lying predominantly to the upside.”

Among miners, Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) climbed 4.2 percent as Citigroup upgraded the firm to “buy” from “hold”.

British oil services and engineering group AMEC rose 2.5 per cent after buying U.S. engineer MACTEC for $280 million to boost its presence in North America in a deal that will be earnings enhancing this year.

Seymour Pierce said in a note it was not changing its forecasts but a price/earnings multiple of 17.5 times for AMEC did not appear excessive compared with its peer group average and John Wood Group (WG.L) on 24 times.

Ex-dividend factors knocked 4.95 points off the FTSE 100 index on Wednesday, with Admiral Carnival and Sainsbury all losing their payout attractions.

Drugmaker Shire (SHP.L) fell 1.3 per cent after announcing plans to shell out $750 million to buy privately held Advanced BioHealing. Goldman Sachs said the acquisition was a long-term strategic positive for the company. [

BAE Systems shed 1.4 per cent as Goldman Sachs repeated its “sell” rating following the defence contractor’s U.S. investor day on Tuesday.