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After falling early on the FTSE 100 eked out some gains by midday on Tuesday, up 0.2% to 7,166.19 after some well received corporate updates and better than expected UK jobs data.
BHP rocketed 9.1% higher to £24.89 on announcing that it had agreed to sell its petroleum business to Australia's Woodside in an all-stock merger.
BHP, which also announced a 42% jump in annual net profit to $11.30 billion, said the deal would see BHP shareholders own 48% of the enlarged Woodside.
On a historic day for the world's biggest miner, it also gave a green light for the development of the $5.7 billion Janson potash project in Canada.
Elsewhere, food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway added 0.2% to £61.43, despite reporting wider first-half losses pinned on investment spending.
Still, Just Eat Takeaway said its losses had reached a nadir and it stuck to its full-year guidance.
Telecom group BT fell 1.6% to 173.2p on announcing that it had poached Asos chairman Adam Crozier to succeed Jan du Plessis from the beginning of December.
Asos, which said it was searching for a new chairman, reversed 0.3% to £39.08.
Online contracts-for-difference broker Plus500 rallied 6.3% to £15.20 even as it reported 48% fall in first-half profit, citing calmer market conditions that presented less opportunities for customers to trade.
Plus500, however, also upgraded its annual sales guidance and said it would launch a new $12.6 million share buyback, following completion of a $25 million buyback announced in February.
Climate management solutions group Genuit fell 0.3% to 646p despite upgrading its annual outlook after it reported a 7.6% rise in first-profit profit thanks to a boost from acquisitions.
Genuit said it now expected full-year underlying operating profit be 'ahead of previous management expectations'.
Engineering and technology staffing company Gattaca shed 5.3% to 234p despite it, too, lifting its forecasts amid a recovery in the recruitment market.
Gattaca said it expected continuing underlying pre-tax profit for the full year to be above £3 million, which compared to market consensus of £2.7 million.
Brake-disc manufacturer Surface Transforms jumped 11% to 68.7p on news that it had been selected as a tier-one supplier to a 'major mainstream US automotive company' in a contract worth around £20 million.
Ground engineering contractor Van Elle dropped 4.0% to 44.15p, having booked a full-year loss amid a flat revenue performance pinned on the pandemic and Brexit uncertainty.
Van Elle said its revenue run-rate at the end of the financial year had returned to pre-pandemic levels.