Miners and banks recovered from yesterday's losses to push the FTSE 100 up 0.7% to 5,494.
Firmer metals prices boosted miners, with ENRC the index's highest climber, with a rise of 3.9%. Anglo American added 3.2%, Kazakhmys rose 2.5% and Xstrata gained 2.4%.
Banks shrugged off JPMorgan's poor results, with Lloyds up 3.2%, Barclays 2.1% and RBS 1.3%. HSBC was the sectors' worst performer, with a fall of 0.5%.
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And energy stocks made modest gains. Tullow Oil rose 2.2%, BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell made 0.1%, while BP was flat.
Read the latest stock market news and charts here.
Europe
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 climbed 23 points to 3,977; and the German Xetra Dax was 43 points higher at 5,918.
US
In the US, markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
Asia
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes both lost 0.8% to close at 10,764 and 949 respectively. In China, the Shanghai Composite index added 0.3% to 3,246; and the CSI 300 closed up 0.2% at 3,507.
Commodities
Brent spot was trading at $75.54 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $77.84. Spot gold was trading at $1,138 an ounce, silver was at $18.79 and platinum was at $1,643.
Currencies
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6416 and against the euro at 1.1403. The dollar was trading at 0.6949 against the euro and 90.45 against the Japanese yen.
UK news
And today, 150 years of independence for Cadbury is to come to an end after its board approved an improved bid from US food group Kraft. Cadbury's board will recommend shareholders accept an offer worth 840p per share, valuing the company at £11.5bn.
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Waspi update on compensation to come “as soon as humanly possible”The government says an announcement on state pension compensation for Waspi women will be made in the coming weeks, following an ombudsman ruling back in March
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NatWest sell-off moves closer as the government offloads more sharesThe UK Treasury's stake in NatWest has fallen to below 11% - here is what it means for the share price
