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UK investors were split at midday on a typically seasonally quiet Friday as markets anticipate parliament's approval of Boris Johnson's Brexit deal later in the day.
The FTSE 100 index made modest gains at midday, roughly 15 points to the good at 7,589.14, while the FTSE 250 list of mid cap stocks, seen by many as a better barometer of national economic health, drifted lower.
That's the highest the blue-chip index has been since July. The FTSE 250 declined 70-odd points down, or about 0.35%, to 21,592.5, although that is off all-time highs of 21,920.69, recorded on 16 December thanks to a particularly strong Boris bounce.
ALL QUIET ON THE CORPORATE FRONT
There was little company news to lend investors direction, with high growth company investment trust Scottish Mortgage topping the blue-chip leader board, up 2.2% to a new record high of 571p.
Heading the FTSE 100 loser board is private hospitals operator NMC Health as it continues to defend itself from various funding and operational allegations made by notorious shorter Muddy Waters.
NMC shares plunged more than 21% to £12.07 despite issuing a detailed rebuttal to the hedge fund's accusations. The share price closed ahead of the allegations, on 16 December, at £25.85.
Elsewhere, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell drifted 1.1% lower to £22.465 as it foreshadowed impairment charges in the fourth quarter of $1.7bn-to-$2.3bn.
The oil giant also lowered its oil-product production guidance for the period, but lifted its forecast for upstream and oil and gas output.
AstraZeneca rallied 1.6% to £77.61 on agreeing to sell the commercial rights to Arimidex and Casodex, used primarily to treat breast and prostate cancers, in European, African and other countries to Juvise Pharmaceuticals, for $198m.
Residential landlord Grainger shed 1.2% to 302.4p, having received planning consent to redevelop a housing estate in the London Borough of Lambeth involving 215 homes.
LondonMetric Property also lost earlier gains to drift 0.7% lower at 227.6p on news that it had sold two 'mega box' warehouses and two regional distribution warehouses for a combined £145.3m, of which its share was £141.9m.
Renewables investor Greencoat UK Wind drifted 0.3% lower to 149p after reaching an agreement to buy the Windy Rig and Twentyshilling wind farms in Scotland from Statkraft for a combined £104m.
BIGGER MOVERS AMONG THE SMALL CAPS
Cosmetics company Warpaint London sank 14% to 70p as it warned on profits and said it would split the roles of its current joint chief executives.
Sam Bazini would remain CEO while Eoin Macleod had been appointed to the newly created position of managing director, reflecting a more operational focus.
Nanomaterials company Nanoco leapt 8% to 13.5p on revealing that it had received takeover interest from a number of interested parties and invited them to conduct due diligence.
Waste disposal business Renewi also rallied strongly, up 23% to 33.4p after authorities in Holland lifted a ban on the use of thermally treated soil.
Financial trading platform firm Beeks Financial Cloud jumped nearly 20% to 107.5p after reporting a pair of new contracts worth nearly £2m combined.
Biomarker focused Oxford BioDynamics rallied 14% to 118p after it entered into a master service agreement for the development of its flagship EpiSwitch technology with 'a top US pharmaceutical company'.
But marketing services minnow Jaywing slumped 25% to 3.5p as it booked a deeper first-half loss after revenue slumped by more than a quarter. That values the AIM market tiddler at just £3.3m.