The FTSE 100 rose 20 points (0.35 percent) to 5,718 by 14:45. The FTSE 250 surged 50 points (0.45 percent) to 11,682 and the FTSE AIM 100 index rose 14 points (0.35 percent) to 3,898.
Private equity firm 3i (LON:III) and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) were among the top performing blue chips, advancing 2 percent by mid afternoon.
Home improvement retailer Kingfisher (LON:KGF) and property company focused on shopping centres Capital Shopping Centres Group (LON:CSCG) declined 1 percent, as did satellite telecommunications firm Inmarsat (LON:ISAT).
Oil & gas
Most oil and gas majors were broadly flat today. Midcaps Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL) and Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) fell 2 percent by midday. Premier Oil (LON:PMO) did better, climbing 1.75 percent.
Iraqi Kurdistan focused Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) and EU operating Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) were among the top performing small caps, rising 5 percent.
Mining
Precious metals
Mining stocks were on the rise today. Lonmin (LON:LMI) rallied 3 percent. Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) tacked on 1 percent.
In the FTSE 250, African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG), Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) and Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) each added 1 percent.
Hochschild Mining (LON:HOIL) went against the tide, dropping 1.5 percent.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey focused gold and copper explorer KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) led the sector today, soaring 42 percent.
Exploration and development company focused on gold and high value base metals Stratex International (LON:STI) also did well, advancing 10 percent.
Emerging gold producer in Central Asia Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ) climbed 7.5 percent, while gold and silver explorer Patagonia Gold (LON:PGD) and Mariana Resources (LON:MARL), which is focused on copper-gold prospects in South America, rose 6 percent.
Anglo American (LON:AAL), Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) led the base metals focused miners, advancing 2 percent. Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) tacked on nearly 1.5 percent.
Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR), whose main asset is the Moma titanium minerals mine in Mozambique, outperformed the sector, surging 6 percent. Fellow midcap Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) added 1.4 percent.
South Africa operating coal mine developer Strategic Natural Resources (LON:SNRP) climbed 7.5 percent.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Barclays (LON:BARC) rose 1 percent, while other banks were broadly flat.
Insurers did well today. Standard Life (LON:SL) and Old Mutual (LON:OML) climbed 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. Admiral Group (LON:ADM) and RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) rose 1 percent.