With US markets closed today, London has looked east for a lead, and has followed Asian markets higher.
The FTSE 100 was up 74 points at 6,117, with just three index constituents in the red: Associated British Foods, Admiral and Tesco.
The latter shed 0.2p at 185.75p after selling its Korean business, Homeplus, for an enterprise value of £4.24bn.
Primark-owner Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) was the biggest faller, down 2.2% at 3,070p, after a pre-close trading statement that revealed the company’s full-year results will see a decline in adjusted operating profit for the group.
The group, which also owns British Sugar, said the expected decline was down to tough times in the sugar business and unhelpful exchange rates.
Top of the Footsie tree is commodities trading and mining group Glencore (LON:GLEN), after it announced plans to tackle its debt mountain. The company plans to raise up to US$2.5bn through an equity issue, suspend dividend payments until further notice and to raise US$2bn through the sale of assets.
Among the mid-caps, the full-year results from Dechra Pharmaceuticals (LON:DPH) have disappointed. Revenue rose 5.1% to £203.5mln while underlying earnings (EBITDA) was up 3.9% year-on-year.
Michael Redmond, chairman of the veterinary pharmaceutical specialist, said: “Current trading is in line with management expectations; however, the business continues to be exposed to exchange rate volatility.”
The shares were off 1.4% at 932p.
In the small cap space, Lekoil (LON:LEK) was flying high, after it confirmed the Otakikpo field in Nigeria has achieved first oil.
The shares gushed 17.7% to 25p as it revealed two of four production strings in the Otakikpo-002 well flowed at peak rates of 5,703 barrels of oil per day, which the company highlights as being significantly ahead of expectations.
KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) was wanted, rising 7.1% to 0.75p, as it revealed planned output from its Ethiopia project has grown significantly and said a winning bidder has emerged for the contract to mine the Tulu Kapi deposit.
Investors were dialling into proximity-marketing leader Proxama (LON:PROX) after it struck a new contract with the UK's largest provider of taxi advertising, which will allow passengers in London to receive content when they have hired a cab.
Advanced engineering materials Versarien (LON:VRS) revealed it has been granted US patent protection for its volume graphene platelet production process.
It adds to existing patent protection for the graphene production process which had already been granted in Europe.
The shares rose 4.6% to 19.75p.
Moving the other way was Minera IRL (LON:MIRL), after the company was forced to suspend operations at its Corihuarmi mine site.
Relationships with the locals have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks, prompting changes in senior management, and things look to have come to a head, with around 100 locals occupying the mine and key installations.
Minera IRL said it remains committed to addressing the local community's concerns and restoring previously harmonious relationships. In the meantime, the shares were off a penny at 2.625p.