The FTSE 100 rebounded today posting a two per cent gain as bargain-hunters bought some of the index's worst-performing shares like mmO2 and a Wall Street rally underpinned the surge.
The blue chip index FTSE closed 89.1 points or 1.96 per cent higher at 4,631.0, with banks, oil and telecom shares providing the upward thrust that has eluded the market recently.
UK shares have fallen 12 per cent over the last six months and today revisited lows last seen in September.
The FTSE got an extra filip from Wall Street which gained more than one per cent aided by better-than-expected consumer confidence and home sales data.
Two of the FTSE 100's worst performing stocks so far this year, Vodafone and rival mmO2 rose more than three per cent apiece as investors bagged shares deemed to be oversold. The telecoms sector fuelled 11 points of the FTSE's gain.
Banks added 21 points, with Lloyds TSB up 4.3 per cent.
Oil stocks contributed 20 points as BP rose 2.7 per cent and Shell added 3.8 per cent, tracking a rise in crude oil prices ahead of this week's OPEC meeting in Vienna, where producers are expected to keep oil output limits in place.