Retail and commodity plays pushed the FTSE 100 higher.
The top-share index finished the day up 29 points, or 0.5%, at 6,413.
Investors went shopping for shares in Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS), pushing up the shares 2.8% to 535p, after the chain reported first-half pre-tax profits 5% ahead of market consensus, according to Investec.
General merchandise like-for-like sales still deteriorated from -0.4% in the first quarter to -1.9% in the second quarter as management latterly focused on full-price sales.
Sector peer Morrisons (LON:MRW) was wanted ahead of its update tomorrow, rising 3.9% to 177.5p, but both had to yield to the top performing blue-chip of the day, Glencore (LON:GLEN).
The market cheered the commodity trading and mining behemoth's attempts to whittle down its massive debt mountain, driving the shares 5.4% higher to 125.85p.
Sitting at the wrong end of the Footsie leader board was house builder Persimmon (LON:PSN), which fell 62p to 1,859p as concerns that the shares were overpriced eclipsed an upbeat third quarter trading statement.
Rivals fell in sympathy, with Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) off 7.4p at 180.3p and Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) down 104p to 3,092p.
In the wider market, Plethora Solutions (LON:PLE) was the best performer, doubling in price to 5.5p as major shareholder Regent Pacific offered to acquire all the company’s shares for £102.9mln.
The Hong Kong listed Regent is effectively paying 12.5p per Plethora share. Shareholders will receive around 15.7 Regent shares for each share they own.
Berkeley Energy (LON:BKY) hailed an updated pre-feasibility study for its Salamanca uranium project that included the Zona 7 deposit as an 'outstanding' result.
The inclusion of Zona 7 increased the mine life from eleven to eighteen years and reduced operating costs to US$15.60 per pound from US$24.60, he said, making it one of the lowest cost producers anywhere.
Investors climbed on board and the shares soared almost 30% to 29.25p.
There was also enthusiasm for Forbidden Technologies (LON:FBT), which is to see an immediate boost to revenues as a result of its new contract with US television production company Leftfield Entertainment.
Shares in the Cloud-based video editing software developer rose 0.625p to 5.375p.