The London equities markets saw little movement as a whole on Tuesday as the FTSE 100 was down by only 0.1 percent and the FTSE 250 fell fractionally to 7,891.9 on a volume of 2.5 billion shares traded.
Before its decline, the FTSE 100 hit a 4-year high of 5,471.2 earlier in the day, but losses in New York helped the early gains disappear.
BAT was the biggest loser on the FTSE 100, dropping 2.3 percent to £11.77 as investors waited to see if the Canadian Supreme Court would allow a suit worth C$10 billion against the tobacco company to continue.
The energy sector was up, however. BP ended the day up 1 percent to 699½p after reaching an all-time high of 675½p earlier on an upgrade from “neutral” to “overweight” from JP Morgan. BG Group gained 0.7 percent to 534½p.
Among oil explorers, Burren Energy rose 2.7 percent to 846p on an initial “buy” recommendation from Merrill Lynch. Tullow Oil gained 2.5 percent to 254p.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, Alliance Unichem led all bluechips as it gained 3.5 percent to 870p on rumors of forthcoming bids.
Meanwhile, O2 was up 1.6 percent to 155½p on an increased revenue guidance for its main operations in the UK and an upwardly revised full-year earnings guidance on its German unit. O2 shares hit an all-time high of 157½p earlier in the day.