Robust domestic economic data and an upbeat announcement from banking titan HSBC helped keep the FTSE 100 in the black.

The blue-chip index struggled to maintain earlier gains during the mid-morning session, however, as losses among miners deepened.

By 10.30am (London time), the FTSE 100 was 10.68 points (+0.20%) above yesterday’s close at 5245.86, while the broader FTSE 250 was 8.51 points (-0.1%) in the red at 9194.04.

The trading day kicked off with encouraging domestic retail sales and residential housing market reports.

Figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed that the value of sales at stores open at least a year (like-for-like sales) climbed 3.8% in October compared with a year ago, while sales in all stores were up by 5.9% from a year ago. Both measures suggest that consumer spending during the upcoming festive season may be better than anticipated.

Separately, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed that a greater proportion of real estate professionals saw rising house prices in October. The RICS survey’s headline price balance rose to a reading of 34 in October from 21 in September - the highest since December 2006. London was leading the upturn, with the price balance in the city soaring to 95 in October, the highest level since December 1996.

Banks were in the spotlight, with HSBC and Barclays unveiling their third-quarter results.

Shares of HSBC jumped 3.44% to 716p after stating that its third-quarter underlying pre-tax profit was ‘significantly’ higher than a year earlier, due in part to declining US loan loss provisions.

Europe’s biggest bank said that its third-quarter total loan impairments declined to the lowest level since the first half of 2008, and said that underlying profits were higher than the same period in 2008.

Meanwhile, Barclays’ share price fell 2.4% to 334.5p after reporting third-quarter pre-tax profits of £4.5 million, down nearly 20% from £5.6 billion a year ago.

Britain’s second-biggest bank explained that trading in October was generally consistent with the sector’s overall trend for the first nine months. It also said that strong investment banking helped limit a drop in its third-quarter profits and that it expects bad debts to peak earlier than anticipated. Barclays also paid a dividend of 1p per share.

Lloyds traded around 0.3% higher at 85.45p while RBS was 1.1% higher at 39.85p.

Miners exerted the most pressure on the FTSE this morning, after the price of metals declined on the back of a rise in the US dollar. Gold miner Randgold Resources was among the sector’s worst performers, down 3.3% to 4623p after unveiling third- quarter profits that were 28% lower than the prior quarter. Profits came in at $13.6 million, down from $18.9 million in the second quarter.

Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Xstrata were among the other mining casualties, retreating 3.7% to 1560p, 3% to 1247p and 2% to 990p respectively.

Elsewhere, Vodafone was another drag on the FTSE this morning. The world’s biggest mobile telecommunications company saw its share price decline 3.4% to 133.2p after its first-half report revealed that its European operations fared worse than anticipated.

Vodafone’s first-half group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), an important gauge for operating performance, came in at £7.46 billion, matching Bloomberg’s median analyst estimates. First-half sales were also stronger, up 9.3% from the same comparative period a year ago to £21.76 billion. It also said it plans to cut costs by an additional £1 billion.

Looking ahead to Wall Street, December Dow and S&P 500 futures traded around 0.25% lower this morning, suggesting the market currently expects US equities to open lower this afternoon.