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According to Reuters, the index was up 37.15 points - the equivalent of 0.8 per cent - at 12:30 GMT.
It was boosted by gains of as much as 5.9 per cent that were seen in the financial sector, where news that the Bank of England has maintained interest rates at 0.5 per cent helped Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Barclays to climb.
Market strategist Joshua Raymond observed that banks have "bounced from support levels", while activity has also been boosted by investors looking to purchase stocks while prices are lower.
Elsewhere on the FTSE, a number of companies saw their stock edge higher after receiving upgrades, with BSkyB jumping 3.1 after such a move from Cazenove.
And there were also gains for pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, which were up by 1.1 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Posted by Greg Secker
