The FTSE 100 stood 1.3% above the opening level in late afternoon.
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) led the way with a 6% advance.
Retailer Sainsbury (LON:SBRY), African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) and ENRC (LON:ENRC) followed with gains of nearly 5%.
Aggreko (LON:AGK) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2% loss.
International Power (LON:IPR), ICAP (LON:IAP) and National Grid (LON:NG) shed just over 1%.
Oil & Gas
Supermajors BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSB) advanced 1.3% and 2% respectively.
BG Group (LON:BG) and Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) climbed 1.35%.
Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) advanced 2.5%.
Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LON:AMEC) and Petrofac (LON:PFC) added 1% and 2.5% respectively.
Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) led the midcaps, advancing 5.8%.
Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL) and Soco International (LON:SIA) rose 4.5% and 2.5% respectively.
Premier Oil (LON:PMO) tacked on 1.4%.
Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) rose marginally.
Europe focused oil and gas exploration and production company Ascent Resources (LON:AST) was among the top performing juniors with a 12.5% gain.
US focused Nighthawk Energy (LON:HAWK) and energy sector focused investor Xtract Energy (LON:XTR) advanced 8% and 6% respectively.
Mining
Precious metals
Major mining stocks were on the rise today.
African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) climbed 5% to take the lead. Fellow gold producer Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) advanced 2%.
Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and platinum producer Lonmin (LON:LMI) added 3.1% and 2.5% respectively.
In the FTSE 250, silver producer Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) surged 6.4%.
Gold miner Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) and Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) climbed 2.6% and 2.1% respectively.
Moscow-based gold exploration and mine development company Ovoca Gold (LON:OVG) rose 8%. Kyrgyzstan operating gold miner Chaarat Gold (LON:CHG) and gold producer and exploration company focused on Latin America Orosur Mining (LON:OMI) added 7%.
Base metals
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) led the mining stocks with a 6% gain.
Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and Kazkahmys (LON:KAZ) added 4.6% and 4.3%.
BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) added 3.5%.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) climbed 3%.
Anglo American (LON:AAL) climbed 1.6%.
London’s only listed pure iron ore producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) added 1.6%.
Another FTSE 250 constituent, Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR), which is developing the Moma titanium minerals mine in Mozambique, rallied 4.6%.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Part-nationalised banks Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) advanced 2% and 1.4% respectively.
Barclays (LON:BARC), HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) posted small gains.
Standard Life (LON:SL) led the insurers with a 2.3% gain.
Aviva (LON:AV) and Old Mutual (LON:OML) tacked on 1.7% and 1% respectively.
Legal & General (LON:LGEN), Prudential (LON:PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) rose marginally.
Admiral Group (LON:ADM) held steady.
Private equity group 3i (LON:III) added 1.1%.