(Close): The London market closed lower but recovered initial sharp falls helped by mining stocks.
Mining group Glencore shares were the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100 index, up 16% , after a 30% fall on Monday.
Glencore said it was "financially robust' and several analysts said the sell-off was overdone.
Other commodity companies such as Antofagasta (up 2.2%) and Tullow Oil (up 5.7%) rose in the wake of Glencore's share price rise.
The FTSE 100 of 100 leading shares fell 49.62 points to 5,909.24, a fall of 0.83%. The broader based FTSE 250 index fell more than 1%, or 171.67 points, to 16,442.49.
The brewer SABMiller jumped almost 1.8% a few minutes before the end of trade on renewed speculation that Anheuser-Busch InBev's bid for the company could be revealed in the next few days.
Plumbing supplies group Wolseley fell 12.52% after the company cut its revenue growth forecast from 6% down to 4%.
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.07% against the dollar to $1.5164, and 0.13% against the euro to €1.3479.
