Some Eastern economic promise spiced up the start of trading in European markets on Wednesday.
Japanese premier Shinzo Abe hinted at extra economic stimulus while the latest consumer confidence survey saw the headline indicator rising a much stronger-than-expected 1.4pts in August to 41.7, reversing the decline in July to match this year’s highs.
China also weighed in with signals about possible help for the economy, with the Ministry of Finance pledging to speed up "the implementation and improvement of proactive fiscal policy and related measures…to support stable growth and promote continued healthy economic development."
The FTSE 100 Index advanced 108.29 points to 6254 while the Dax put on 178 points and the CAC-40 gained about 100 points.
Oil prices continued a recovery, with the cost of a barrel of Brent crude lifting 0.1% to US€49.58, although a barrel of US light crude fell slightly to US$45.78.
BP (LON:BP.) gushed 5.75p to 345.95p, Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) spurted 34p to 1666p and BG Group (LON:BG.) inflated 23.2p to 1007p.
In the UK, markets were expecting latest UK industrial production and trade figures for the month of July.
Manufacturing output is expected to post a further modest increase of 0.2%M/M to leave its annual growth rate unchanged at just 0.5%Y/Y.
And total industrial output is expected to have risen by 0.1%M/M, leaving the year-on-year rate of growth little changed from June’s reading of 1.5%Y/Y.
Meanwhile, having provided a significant boost to GDP growth in Q2, external trade is likely to have weakened at the start of Q3.
Chris Scicluna at Daiwa Capital Markets said: "In particular, the trade deficit looks set to widen to around £2bn in July from £1.6bn in the previous month."
Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) ticked up 5p to 642p on news of a 45% rise in profits, although the housebuilder warned of skills shortages and a continuing mismatch between housing supply and demand.
Ryanair flew €1.01 higher to €13.95 as the Irish budget airline revised its annual profit forecast up by a quarter on unexpectedly strong summer demand.
Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) hardened 0.5p to 15p after the explorer forecast an upgrade to nickel resources at its Kun-Manie deposit in Far East Russia.