Traders shrugged off more disappointing Chinese economic data on Tuesday to give the market an early boost.
Recent interventions by the People's Bank of China saw China’s currency reserves shrink by $93.9bn in August, their biggest fall ever, but still much less than expected.
The better-than-expected drop helped to buoy markets, with the FTSE 100 Index climbing 93.62 points to 6168. The Dax gained 186 points and the CAC-40 was up 73.6 points.
For August the country’s imports fell by 13.8% in US dollar denominated terms whilst exports tumbled 5.5%.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: "Understandably the Shanghai Composite sharply dropped on the news, only for the index to close up nearly 3% by the end of the day.
"It appears that, for all the statements and reports to the contrary, the Chinese government is going to continue to get its select band of market warriors to buoy the index and keep up the artifice of a healthy stock market."
Premier Inn and Costa Coffee owner Whitbread (LON:WTB) was 131p off at 4580p as it said sales took a worse-than-expected hit from a wet August.
Sound Oil (LON:SOU) ticked up 0.38p to 16.62p on news that preparations for a well at the Tendrara project, onshore Morocco, had reached an advanced stage.
Fastjet shares flew 1.5p lower to 98p as it launched Malawi flights.
Insurer Amlin (LON:AML) soared 162p to 654.5p as it received a takeover bid from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance.