Rare good economic news from Greece fuelled a feel-good factor in European markets on Thursday.
Data showed the Greek economy made a surprise return to growth in the second quarter of this year, confounding expectations for another fall.
The country's statistics office said gross domestic product rose 0.8% quarter-on-quarter between April and June.
Economists said the figures may mean the Greek economy will contract by less than expected this year.
Analysts also highlighted upbeat comments about Greece from tour operator TUI (LON:TUI), which said bookings for holidays in the country had improved in the last few weeks.
Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said: “We note anecdotal evidence that things on the ground seem fine from a tourism standpoint.”
TUI’s shares brightened 73p to 1118p as it reported strong third quarter numbers despite the impact of the Tunisian terror attack.
The FTSE 100 Index climbed 42.62 points to 6613 despite a further 1% drop in the value of the yuan versus the dollar. Indices in Paris and Frankfurt were also in the black.
The People's Bank of China on Thursday set the level of the yuan a tad lower, signalling it does not want the depreciation to spiral chaotically.
Analysts said the third devaluation in as many days had been expected and was less than the previous two days' falls.
Oil prices gave up some of their earlier gains, with a barrel of Brent up 0.4% at $49.88 but US light crude falling 0.3% to $43.16.
BP (LON:BP.) spurted 2.5p to 386.15p but Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) leaked 16.5p to 1874p. BG Group (LON:BG.) deflated 2p to 1098p and Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) fell 1.4p to 220p.
US stocks were tipped to edge higher on Thursday as fears about further Chinese currency devaluations receded.
On the UK corporate front, Glencore (LON:GLEN) erased early losses to gain 1.8p to 182p despite news that the commodity trader wrote down the value of African oil assets due to falling oil prices.
Cineworld (LON:CINE) ticked up 23p to 571.5p as the cinema group posted a 22.5% rise in first-half pre-tax earnings to £64.7mln.
Soft drink bottler Coca Cola Hbc (LON:CCH) bubbled up 108p to 1431p on news of volume growth and margin expansion.
Investors applauded recruitment firm Michael Page (LON:MPI) after it announced a £50mln special dividend and strong trading. Shares rose 18.5p to 545.5p.
International Ferro Metals (LON:IFL) backtracked 0.62p to 1.3p as tough operating conditions in South Africa and slowing steel demand in China kept it in the red in its latest half year.
In small caps, Midatech Pharma (LON:MTPH) is to work with US–listed Ophthotech Corporation (NASDAQ:OPHT) on new treatments for macular degeneration of the eyes. Shares rose 10p to 280p.
Elsewhere, IGas Energy (LON:IGAS) welcomed government plans which could fast-track planning decisions for shale gas and fracking projects.
New government measures will give local councils up to 16 weeks to either grant or deny fracking before Westminster steps in. Shares climbed 9.26% to 29.5p.
Shares in CentralNic (LON:CNIC) soared 12.5p to 61p after the domain name firm said it believed the rise in its share price was linked to speculation about Google’s decision to adopt the .xyz suffix for use by its new identity Alphabet, although it said it had anticipated growing interest in the suffix.