UK small caps climb 0.5 percent, outperforming thewider market, with junior-listed AIM shares up 0.2percent and the midcaps 0.1 percent higher.
XP Power, a manufacturer of power controlsub-assemblies for the electronics industry, jumps 9 percentafter it says a positive trading environment has seenthird-quarter revenues increase by 11 percent year-on-year.
Finnish nickel miner Talvivaara falls to freshrecord lows, having warned on Thursday it needs another cashinjection just six months after its last fundraising.
The shares, which have slumped some 80 percent in 2013, fall15.6 percent on Friday, with traders noting that a ratingdowngrade from BofA Merrill Lynch to "neutral" from "buy" isputting pressure on the shares.
Reuters messagingrm://tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net