A strong start to trading in New York quickly changed the London market's mood today, overturning what had begun as a gloomy return from the bank holiday break.
The FTSE 100 index of London's leading shares ended the day 46.43 points higher at 4411.72, having at one stage drifted more than 70 points below its Friday night close.
Wall Street shares had been expected to head south amid jitters about North Korea's nuclear test. But those worries were eclipsed by figures that showed a better than expected improvement in consumer confidence this month.
A 2% uplift in the Dow Jones industrial average translated into a healthy boost for shares in London.
However, plenty of companies stayed in negative territory, led by travel group Thomas Cook, off 10p at 224.75p, after Credit Suisse cut its target price to 305p from 333p.
The UK's two part-nationalised banks faltered following weekend reports that they may miss lending targets.
Lloyds Banking Group was down 1.8p at 66.8p, while Royal Bank of Scotland fell 0.7p to 40.2p.
Shares in Rio Tinto slipped 16p to £27.53 after the mining group slashed the cost of its iron ore by a third, underlining the worldwide slump in commodity prices.
It was the first cut the company has made in its iron ore price since 2002.
In a deal with Japan's leading steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corporation, Rio agreed to a 33% cut on last year's fine iron ore prices for the year that began on 1 April.
The company – which is wrangling with shareholders over a controversial bailout from the Chinese government – slashed the cost of lump ore even further, by 44%.
Analysts believe that Chinese steelmakers will drive a tough bargain and push for a cut in prices of between 40% and 50%.
Shares in the pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond rose 18.5p to 214p after it issued a positive trading update, following a similarly upbeat statement earlier this month from its rivals H&T Group.
Albemarle & Bond, which has 114 branches across the country, said results for the year ending in June were expected to be "significantly ahead of market expectations", attributing its performance in part to the strength of the gold price.
Millwall Holdings, the Aim-listed company behind Millwall football club, almost halved after the London club failed in its bid for promotion to the Championship, losing Sunday's League One play-off to Scunthorpe.
The shares – which trade at a fraction of a penny – dropped 0.0195p to 0.022p, valuing the company at just over £8m.
