London's leading shares bounced this morning amid a rally by mining and energy stocks.
Cairn Energy was a notable riser, up 5% at £21.06, while the Kazakh miner Kazakhmys was almost 5% better at 311p.
Rio Tinto, which is embroiled in a row with investors over its controversial plans for a $20bn injection from Chinalco, gained 41p to £19.80.
Financial shares were also performing well, with private equity group 3i lifting more than 5% at 272p and Barclays climbing 5% to 109.5p.
Retail group Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, rose 5% to 143.9p.
The stock benefited from an upgrade by analysts at UBS, who changed their rating from "neutral" to "buy" and raising their target price from 132p to 160p.
Investors reacted positively to the resignation of London Stock Exchange chief executive Dame Clara Furse, as shares gained more than 4% to 491p.
It was an overwhelmingly positive day for FTSE 100 stocks, with the blue-chip index gaining 82.23 points 4284.47.
If it stays that way, the FTSE 100 will end the week roughly flat after alternating days of gains and falls.
BT bounced back from yesterday's record low, up 2p to 99p.
Sugar group Tate and Lyle was one of just four fallers – down 1% to 333p – as Numis cut its rating to 240p from 330p, with a sell rating.
The mining group Randgold Resources was also a loser, off 2% at £33.28.
