London open: Modest recovery led by Next

The Footsie was making a modest recovery on Wednesday, following yesterday's mass sell-off on the back of news of a Greek referendum. While the situation in the debt-laden country seems to be getting worse - with its prime minister rejecting calls for the vote to be cancelled - buyers returned to European markets this morning, ahead of a policy decision by the US Federal Reserve due later today.GREEK REFERENDUM TO GO AHEAD The decision to hold a referendum on Greece's latest bail-out took the markets by surprise yesterday with major benchmark indices across Europe registering losses of anywhere between 3% and 7%.Despite calls for prime minister George Papandreou to cancel the vote, the cabinet agreed to back the decision early Wednesday morning."The referendum will be a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro," Papandreou said in a cabinet meeting. "No one will be able to doubt Greece's course within the euro."The prime minister will meet with French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Cannes this afternoon ahead of tomorrow's G-20 summit. Sarkozy said that Papandreou's decision was a surprise for all of Europe and that the rescue plan was the only solution to the Greek debt problemsNEXT & LLOYDS HEAD IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONSNext, the fashion retailer, jumped higher after seeing a 3.3% increase in group sales in the third quarter compared to the same period of 2010. "We remain confident that we will see no further increase in selling prices in the first half of the year. Early indications are that this trend will continue into the second half of 2012," the company said. Meanwhile, Lloyds headed the fallers list after announcing that its chief executive officer, Antonio Horta-Osorio, is taking a leave of absence for health reasons, according to the Financial Times. The board is set to discuss interim measures later today.Inmarsat was switching between gains and losses despite the satellite communications firm seeing revenues rise 17.9% in the third quarter compared to the same period of 2010. Total revenues came in at $364.1m, up from $308.8m in the third quarter of 2010 and in line with management expectations.Standard Life also made moderate gains despite saying that "economic uncertainty and volatile conditions in global capital markets will inevitably mean that the operating conditions which we face will be challenging." During the third quarter, the group's assets under administration were lower at £191.1bn, compared with £196.8bn during the third quarter the previous year. Randgold Resources, Kazakhmys and New World Resources were among the miners making gains, as metals prices recovered after their recent falls.Logica took a tumble on the FTSE 250 after the IT services provider cut its operating margin guidance for the full year. The firm said, "Achieving better levels of utilisation in the Benelux before the year end will remain a challenge and progress in Sweden has been slower than expected. While we anticipate further progress in these areas through the fourth quarter, we are also seeing pockets of market softness."BC FTSE 100 - RisersNext (NXT) 2,693.00p +5.32%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,025.00p +4.31%Man Group (EMG) 141.40p +3.97%ARM Holdings (ARM) 594.00p +3.85%Wolseley (WOS) 1,803.00p +3.56%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,317.00p +3.46%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 106.10p +3.41%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 159.50p +3.10%Old Mutual (OML) 108.00p +3.05%Essar Energy (ESSR) 304.40p +2.70%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 29.54p -3.35%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,357.50p -1.52%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,417.00p -1.49%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,206.00p -1.10%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,155.50p -1.06%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,251.00p -1.05%Diageo (DGE) 1,284.00p -1.00%Sage Group (SGE) 269.70p -0.77%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,848.00p -0.63%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,943.50p -0.56%