FTSE 100 closed 1.13% higher, rebounding from recent lows, to finish at 6,830 as investors appeared to come back to equites again.
It comes ahead of George Osborne's Mansion House speech tonight, which will be closely watched by the City, journos, analysts and pundits.
The chatter has centred on news of an apparent pledge tonight to commit to a law, in which governments would permanently have to run at a surplus (ie, spend less than take in).
It is reported that he will announce that for the first time in more than 150 years, that the Committee of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt will formally meet.
But critics have said Osborne's latest move heralds a return to the out of date Victorian times. He certainly apears to be not wasting any time in getting his voice heard after the Tory win recently.
He is also likely to talk more about the government's plans for the return of state-backed banks to private hands.
Meanwhile in Greece, the issue, which just won't go away, there has been soem movement in negotiations, it emerged.
Moreover heavyweight broker Citi signalled that it may be time to move m back into shares both here and in the USA.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was top dog on Footsie, as the Asia-focused bank went higher on speculation it will move its headquarters away from the UK after HSBC (LON:HSBA) it was still reviewing whether or not to move. Standard was also likely boosted by reports that Osborne was likely to signal an end to the government’s £3.5bn-a-year bank levy.
Shares gained 5.8% to move to 1,094p.
Meanwhile supermarket giant Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) released first quarter results which showed sales were better than expected despite falling. Shares rose 4.54% to 260.3p
Unfortunately, someone has to come last and today it was engineering company Weir Group (LON:WEIR).Chief executive Keith Cochrane said the second quarter “is proving to be very challenging” sending shares 3.41% lower.Away from the index, FirstGroup (LON:FGP) hailed a shake-up of its UK bus operations for higher annual profits as it announced the departure of its finance chief. Shares rose 5.7% to 613p.
In small caps, reach4entertainment (LON:R4E) was among top risers after it restructured and paid off its £14.7mln loan facility with AIB. Shares jumped more than 50% to 2.15p. Kimberly Entertainment (LON:KBE) added 180% to 0.35p.
On the flip-side, Light emitting diode (LED) designer Dialight (LON:DIA) fell 29.53% to 525p.
The company said revenues for the first quarter exceeded expectations but warned it has suffered from a recent reduction in orders. Shares dropped a third in value to to 491p.
Among other risers, Venn Life Sciences added 5.81% to 22.75p after it said it had inked a €2mln contract with a leading European biotech group.
The deal is for the management of phase III trials in rheumatology and will cover multiple European countries and run over four years.