FTSE100 was up over 63 points at the midday point, making up for earlier losses, with financial group Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.) the biggest riser.
Also helping sentiment were reports that the European Central Bank is considering buying corporate bonds to aid stimulus measures.
The rises came despite some big cap diappointments.
The biggest faller, however, was chip designer ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) as broker Liberum repeated a 'sell' stance on the stock despite reporting what was a an in-line third quarter. Shares sank 5.7% to stand at 8.030p.
The broker said prospects for the group were likely to be held back by a slowdown in its end-markets.
Also in losers' row was Anglo-Dutch household good giant Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.) as investors were left cold with the trading update.
It came despite seeing like-for-like (LFL) sales rise 3% in Q3 from a year earlier on a constant currency basis and excluding the pharmaceuticals division, which the group intends to spin off.
On the macro front, Chinese GDP figures slowed to a 7.3% pace in the third quarter, although commentators said that was min fact progress.
The consensus had been for a more pronounced slowdown - to a 7.2% rate of expansion.
The junior market was also upbeat.
FTSE AIM All-share was up over eight points at 700.58, while FTSE AIM 100 added 52 to stand at 3021p.
Among notable small cap gainers was Chaarat Gold (LON:CHG), up over 13% and Immupharma (LON:IMM), which gained 7.84%.
The standout gainer however was Northern Petrolueum (LON:NOP), which added 18.52% to stand at 16p.
It revealed today what it described as “outstanding” flow rates from the first of three new wells drilled in Canada.
The first new well drilled at the Keg River project has tested at a rate of 1,300 barrels of oil per day.
"The production capacity of the first well in this campaign is outstanding and it does not take many wells of this calibre to significantly increase the value of the whole project,” said chief executive Keith Bush.