Britain's blue chips closed almost 69% higher with miners the big winners as traders digested a mixed jobs report from across the pond.
FTSE100 finished 68.97 up at 6,199 with Glencore (LON:GLEN) the biggest riser, up almost 12% at 160p as metals prices rose.
Other big names on the podium were Anglo American (LON:AAL), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), all gaining.
"Traders started the day mildly optimistic about what lay ahead, but as the day has evolved they have become increasingly pleased with the way that things have progressed," said Alastair McCaig at IG Index.
He added that the first Friday of the month always offers the opportunity for confusion, as the quickly correlated non-farm figures have the ability to spook the markets but stronger than expected headline figures helped deflect attention away from falling average hourly earnings figures, he suggested.
The job creation number for Feb came in at 242,000 beating consensus for 195,000, but average hourly earnings fell unexpectedly in February by 0.1% on the month to $25.35.
Bid stock London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE) found the market hard to please despite releasing a strong set of results. Shares fell 1.38% to 2,853p.
The group reported a 2% rise in like-for-like sales and a 31% improvement to £643mln in underlying profits.
February's sharp fall in UK house prices continued to weigh down house builders such as Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) which fell 2.27% to 3,010p, and was doing no favours either to building materials firm Travis Perkins (LON:TPK). That lost 3.88% to 1,783p.
Outside of the Footsie, mid-cap defence stock Cobham (LON:COB) was clobbered by JP Morgan Cazenove downgrading it to 'neutral' from 'overweight' while Barclays Capital cut its target price from 330p to 270p albeit while sticking with its 'equal weight' recommendation. Shares fell 1.84% to 234.9p.
On the other side of the coin, Monitise (LON:MONI) shot up 31.34% as it confirmed it is in early stage talks with a party that might be interested in buying its Content business.
Mytrah Energy (LON:MYT), the Indian wind power company, was wanted after Cantor Fitzgerald said yesterday's preliminary results addressed key investor concerns. Shares gained 7.69% to 49p each.
Other notable risers were Aureus Mining (LON:AUE), up 28.57% to 7.88p and Graphene Nanocheme (LON:GRPH), which added 25.58% to 13.50p.
On Wednesday this week, Aureus achieved commercial production status at its New Liberty gold mine in Liberia. Production exceeded 9,000 ounces during February 2016 as the company sorted teething issues that had affected the gravity and carbon in leach (CIL) circuits at the process plant.