The FTSE 100 index was up 0.1 percent at 6,144.60 points by the close after rising 0.7 percent on Tuesday.

That compared to a fall of 0.4 percent for the FTSEurofirst 300 and a 0.7 percent drop for the Euro STOXX 50.

The commodities-heavy FTSE 100 benefited from demand for resource-related stocks, while the UK mining index rose 2.6 percent after prices of copper, aluminium and zinc climbed by 1-2 percent.

"After the recent sell-off, miners are once again in demand, with stronger metal prices underpinning the sector," Securequity senior trader Jawaid Afsar said.

But he warned the outlook for the sector was still grim given lingering concerns about the pace of economic growth in top metals consumer China.

Shares in Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton rose between 2.3 and 5.4 percent.

Oil shares also turned higher in late trade after a spike in U.S. crude prices, following data that showed a surprise drop in crude inventories.

"The drawdown may well have been due to the wildfires in Canada as the latter’s main export market is the United States," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index.

"Imports are likely to fall further this week because of the significant reduction of oil output in Canada."

Experian recouped early losses to close down just 0.4 percent after the world's biggest credit data company reported unchanged full-year pretax profits against a backdrop of adverse foreign exchange movements.

Among mid-caps, William Hill slumped 6.6 percent after a lacklustre update that reaffirmed a difficult trading environment.

Shares hit a 3-1/2 year low, and are down 27 percent since late February, after a profit warning in March.

"Nothing has changed since the profit warning in March," UBS analysts said in a note. Some other analysts had yet to downgrade their forecasts for the stock in light of the profit warning, they added.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)

By Atul Prakash and Alistair Smout