Britain's leading shares reached six-week highs at midsession with financial stocks drawing support from reassuring results from French insurance giant AXA.
Shares in airline British Airways rose 6 per cent after robust results from Australian affiliate Qantas and German flag carrier Lufthansa.
By midday the FTSE 100 share index had risen 71.9 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 4,440.8, off an earlier high at 4,466.4 points, but having recouped all of yesterday's 58-point falls.
Total market turnover was 952 million shares. Dealers said positive earnings news from insurer AXA had lifted sentiment in the ravaged insurance sector.
Shares in Royal & Sun Alliance rose 3.5 per cent, shrugging off news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's cut its debt rating, while Prudential gained 1.9 per cent and Legal & General climbed 2.9 per cent.
Dealers said the positive sentiment had spilled over to the banking sector, which added 15 points to the leading index. Shares in Barclays and Lloyds TSB gained over three per cent each.