The FTSE was up 27.5 points (0.5%) to 5271.63 points, buoyed by gains among mining firms.
The mining sector continued yesterday's advance on the back of rising prices for copper, lead, nickel and tin.
Eurasian Natural Resources is leading the way for the sector this morning, climbing 3% to 995.5p.
Hedge fund Man Group heads the blue-chip index, up 5.3% to 239.9p, after successfully placing €600m of five-year notes. it has also been boosted by rumours rival BlackRock may be preparing to bid for it.
Richard Marwood, manager of Axa Investment Managers' Ethical Distribution fund, bought Man Group's shares this month as a beta bet if inflation pushes equities upwards.
Companies ex-dividend peppered the list of UK fallers. BP and Scottish & Southern Energy, each in this category, fell by 1.4% and 1.3% respectively.
In the US, the Dow closed up 1.7% at 10,268.81 points overnight, buoyed by an upbeat report on February manufacturing activity in New York.
Kraft Foods, which is buying Cadbury for £11.7bn, fell by 0.4% to $28.97 after its organic sales numbers disappointed analysts, and it admitted integrating Cadbury would hit its 2010 results.
Financials did well in the US, with Bank of America rising 4.9% to $15.16.
About three quarters of S&P 500 companies to report fourth-quarter earnings since January 11 have beaten analysts' expectations, according to Bloomberg.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.7% to 10,306.83 points amid a sense the global recovery was sustainable.
Commodities trader Mitsubishi Corp gained 3.4%. Toshiba also rose, by 6.3% after the US Government said it would set aside $8.3bn for a nuclear power plant, which is expected to use Toshiba's reactors.
