The FTSE Small Cap index closes 0.2 percent higher, lagging largergains on the FTSE 250, up 0.5 percent and the FTSE 100, whichrises 0.6 percent.
British waste management firm Shanks Group slips 4.2 percent aftersaying it expects growth to slow in its 2013/14 financial year, as poorconstruction activity continues to hit waste volumes and pricing.
Premier Foods extendes losses, down 0.3 percent after the foodproducer announced it has axed its chief operating officer just hours afterjoining the manufacturer of Hovis late on Monday, prompting Investec to cut itsrating to "hold" from "buy".
"Time is emphatically not on this company's side and a fresh leadershipdrama was the last thing it needed. While downside is limited by renewed riskappetite in the market, at 6.4x FY13 EBITDA so too are the upsides," Investecsays in a note.
Low & Bonar rises 7.4 percent after the materials group reportsfull-year earnings up 5 percent, raises its dividend by 14 percent to 2.4 penceand says it remains confident of further progress.
"Full year figures were marginally ahead of expectations ... However,results do clearly demonstrate the benefits of management actions to date ...and we believe an increased medium term sales growth target illustrates thejustified confidence of the management team," Numis writes in a note, repeatingits "buy" rating on Low & Bonar partly on valuation grounds.
Ariana Resources climbs 4.1 percent after the mining company submitted its project summary documentation to the Minister of Environment &Urban Planning (MEUP) for its Kiziltepe sector of its Red Rabbit Gold Project inTurkey.
"This is a positive update from Ariana, which now expects the permittingbeing concluded in second-half 2013 with construction planned before the yearend. In addition the acquisition of three further parcels of land close to theplanned Arzu South open pit, have the potential to further increase theresource," Fox Davies says in a note.
Sable Mining is up 2.2 percent after announcing a maiden JORCcompliant resource from the company's on-going exploration programme at theNimba Iron Ore Project in south-east Guinea.
"Today's maiden resource is phenomenal. We think Sable's Nimba has roaredinto first-place as the largest undeveloped on-accessible-infrastructure DSOproject to be held outside majors globally," GMP says in a note.
"We expect this resource to be a major wake-up call to the numerous mid- andlarge-cap producers that have publically expressed interest in building a WestAfrican iron ore business," it said.
Huntsworth adds 3.5 percent after the public relations andconsultancy group said its rigorous action on costs will deliver a double digitimprovement in group profitability for 2012 and management expects to meet itsexpectations for 2012.
Reuters messaging rm://david.brett.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
