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According to Reuters, the index had risen 1.1 per cent at 09:00 GMT, taking it to 5,115.63 points.
There was a five per cent jump for miner Randgold Resources after it revealed a rise in full-year profit, while news that Xstrata has reintroduced dividends helped it add 3.3 per cent.
Elsewhere in the mining sector, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Lonmin, Eurasian Natural Resources and Kazakhmys edged upwards by as much as 2.8 per cent.
And energy stocks also performed well, aided by the news that the price of crude oil has increased.
Joshua Raymond of City Index noted that investors have been "looking to pick up some of the badly beaten miners", noting that the sector shed ten per cent of its value over the course of last week.
He added that it is "a little too early to say" whether the increase signifies the end of the losses seen on the FTSE recently.
Posted by Clive Arneil
