London's leading shares rallied after fresh evidence of US economic recovery spurred Wall Street to its highest close for 14 months.
The FTSE 100 index opened 30 points up at 4234.4 as solid US economic data appeared to be underpinning growing confidence in markets at home.
After yesterday's lacklustre trading ended with the index unchanged at the same point it started the day, a steady flow of company news kept investors busy.
Tobacco group Gallaher was among the highest top flight risers, putting on 11p to 572.5p, after saying it had increased its share of the UK market, despite a 14% decline in half year profits.
Insurers continued yesterday's strong run, with Legal & General rising 1.5p to 106p and Royal & Sun Alliance up 2.75p to 152.25p.
But Scottish & Southern Energy slipped nearly 4%, or 24p to 617.5p.
Outside the top flight, computing services group Logica CMG advanced 14.5p to 229p after saying it had seen strong orders in its first six months as a merged company despite continuing challenging markets.
And services firm Serco, which runs trains and does maintenance for Network Rail among other activities, saw its shares rise 7p to 177p after announcing double-digit increases in sales and profits for the 16th successive year.