UK small caps and AIM are both flat in lunchtime trade, outperforming losses of 0.6 percent on the mid-caps and 0.7 percent on the blue chips.
Sirius Minerals (Other OTC: SRUXF - news) adds 2 percent, extending gains into a second session after saying late on Thursday that it has been informed that the Ministry of Defence intends to remove its holding objection to the York potash planning application.
On the flip side, Petroceltic International Plc drops 3.7 percent after saying it would abandon an exploration well off the Bulgarian coast that failed to yield enough gas to justify commercial production.
"A disappointing result but of minor importance for valuation which we believe will be far more influenced by the Ain Tsila farm out and drilling in Romania and Kurdistan," analysts at Liberum Capital say in a note.
Reuters messaging rm://antonina.vorobyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
