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It has added 28.43 points - or 0.5 per cent - by 08:44 GMT, Reuters reports, taking it to 5,555.59 points.
Gains of between 1.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent were recorded by mining firms BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Fresnillo, Lonmin and Xstrata as metal prices rose following yesterday's dip.
And a number of banks continued their recent strong performances, with Standard Chartered, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland adding as much as 3.1 per cent.
Increased appetite for risk meant a drop in some defensive stocks, including pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which lost 0.7 per cent after announcing a recall of one if its products in Japan.
Yesterday, the market declined in the afternoon session after the Bank of England announced it is maintaining the base rate at 0.5 per cent.
Posted by Greg Secker
