Online trading platform Plus500 soared on a buy-back plan.

The FTSE 100, which had started off the session in the red amid Hong Kong protests and the U.S.-China trade worries, ended 0.3% higher. The midcap index <.FTMC> rose 0.5%.

The United States delayed imposing a 10% import tariff on laptops, cell phones, video game consoles and some other products made in China that had been scheduled to start next month, in an abrupt pull-back from a hardline stance on Chinese trade.

That had taken focus off the worries over protests in Hong Kong, which had recently weighed on shares in the FTSE 100's Asia-focussed financials such as HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Still, the Hong Kong protests' impact on Asia-focussed financials including HSBC, as well as pressure from simmering U.S.-China trade tensions have placed the FTSE 100 on track for its biggest monthly fall since October 2018.

"With worries about a recession brewing in Germany, political uncertainty in Italy and violent scenes in Hong Kong, the easing up of hostilities between the US and China has been a welcome change to the doom and gloom of the past few days," CMC Markets analyst David Madden said.

On the midcap index, Plus500 surged 21%, erasing one-third of its year-to-date losses, after its new share buyback plan offset a more than 50% slump in first-half earnings.

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin, on the other hand, lost 4% after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating and slashed its price target by more than two-thirds. A Financial Times report also said hedge funds had taken short positions in the company.

Blue-chip retailers Next, Marks & Spencer and Tesco lost 1.2-2% a day after data showed 10.3% of shops in Britain were vacant, the highest rate in four years.

More than 50 retailers, including Sainsbury's and M&S, have urged the government to freeze business rates to help out the struggling sector.

London-listed shares of tour operator TUI, which earlier rose as much as 4.4%, ended the day slightly lower after reporting a 46% decline in core earnings amid problems with the grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX jets in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Angus MacSwan)

By Muvija M and Yadarisa Shabong