With Wall Street in a better mood than of late, the FTSE 100 has ended the day well clear of the 6,000 mark and at its highest in seven weeks.
Earnings reports from bluechips including Intel and JP Morgan have helped improve sentiment in US stock markets after the disappointments of last week and that has helped European markets extend gains this afternoon.
The FTSE 100 closed up 139.3 points, or 2.4%, at 6,046.2, the highest since February 27.
In America, the Dow is up almost 1.5%, the Nasdaq is 2.3% higher and the S&P 500 is up more than 1.5%.
The FTSE's top riser remains credit checker Experian. Its 11% jump will be welcome relief for shareholders who had watched the stock drop more than 40% over the year to yesterday.
The banks are also higher on rising hopes the Bank of England will soon come up with ways to ease what many financial institutions are bemoaning as ongoing mortgage pain. RBS has ended up 7.6% at 375p, Barclays is 6.7% higher at 479p and Alliance & Leicester is up 6.7% at 503p.
Rio Tinto is also on the top risers board, hitting a record £63.67.
The mining company's first-quarter production report this morning showed a fall in refined copper output countered by a jump in aluminium production. But the shares rise of 6% was mainly down to market talk that rival firm BHP Billiton was working on a higher offer for the company.
BHP Billiton also ended sharply higher - up 5.4% at £18.65 - helped by ongoing chatter of rising Chinese interest in buying a stake. Confirmation of China taking a 1% interest in oil giant BP intensified talk that BHP will be the next target.
