Mining stocks led the way as the FTSE 100 Index began the week with buoyant gains.
The widespread rises across the heavyweight sector came after gold prices hit another new record, while hopes of a bid war for Cadbury also helped the Dairy Milk maker advance.
By mid-morning, the blue-chip index was 88.7 points higher at 5340.2 - a gain of 1.7% - with only a handful of Footsie stocks in negative territory as traders shrugged off the jitters of the previous week.
Gold miner Randgold Resources was among the biggest gainers, helped almost 5% or 235p higher to 5175p after the precious metal hit another new record above 1167 dollars an ounce.
The mining sector accounted for the top flight's five biggest risers, with platinum firm Lonmin adding 82p to 1775p amid higher metals prices across the board.
Dairy Milk maker Cadbury meanwhile ticked up again to reach its highest level this year - up 13p to 813.5p - as hopes of a possible bidding war were fuelled by weekend reports.
Banking giant Barclays was also the leading performer on a good day for the sector amid reports it had restarted talks over selling its private equity unit. The shares added 10.9p to 315.15p.
In the FTSE 250, broadcaster ITV was 1.8p ahead to 54.95p after more speculation that new chairman Archie Norman was considering charging for some channels as well as a board clear-out after its recent mishandling of top-level appointments.
Fellow second tier stock Northumbrian Water was off 0.1p at 243.9p despite rising pre-tax profits as the company continued to be affected by rising business failures in the North-East.
Transport group National Express was another faller, losing 0.7p to 366.2p although the company's biggest shareholder, Spain's Cosmen family, raised its stake in the firm to 19.5%.
