The London market made strong gains thanks to mining stocks bouncing back and hopes in Europe for further measures to stimulate spending.
The FTSE 100 Index rose 55.5 points to 6393.1, a 22-day high as markets across Europe traded robustly, with the Footsie edging closer to the psychologically important 6400 mark.
Markets lifted on signs that the European Central Bank (ECB), led by president Mario Draghi, looks increasingly likely to boost its one trillion euro (£703 billion) quantitative easing programme.
Germany's DAX and the Cac 40 in France were both up by more than 1%.
IG chief market strategist in Australia, Chris Weston, said: "Mario Draghi is not to be second-guessed, every time you think easing is priced in, we hear of new potential measures which raise the markets' expectations even more."
The US stock market is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The pound was slightly down against the US dollar at 1.51, as traders digested the Chancellor's Autumn Statement yesterday, which was less austere than expected. Sterling was just up against the euro at just under 1.43.
Miners recovered some of the losses made on Wednesday, despite copper prices at near six-year lows.
Glencore was up 5.3p to 95.9p, Antofagasta rose 18.9p to 517.5p and Anglo American was 18.6p higher to 435.8p.
Banks were in the spotlight after Barclays was fined £72 million by the Financial Conduct Authority for cutting corners on financial checks for a secretive £1.9 billion transaction on behalf of very wealthy clients.
However, shares lifted 3.7p to 225.2p.
Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group announced details of 1,000 job cuts as part of its drive to slash costs.
The job losses are part of an overall target to slash its workforce by 9,000, which was announced last October when the group also said it would be shutting 200 branches, while opening 50 more.
Shares edged up 1p to 73.1p.
Tesco has said it will pay 12 million US dollars (£8 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from an accounting scandal that rocked the supermarket last year.
Britain's biggest retailer does not admit liability but will make the payment to American shareholders - owners of American depositary receipts - to settle the claim, subject to confirmation by a federal court in New York.
Analysts said this began to settle some of the uncertainty surrounding the supermarket on this matter.
Shares lifted 1.5p to 170p.
Water firm Severn Trent said its underlying pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of September rose 2.6% £281 million compared with a year earlier, due to lower financing costs and a cut to operating costs.
The firm, which supplies 4.3 million households and firms across the Midlands and parts of Wales, said it was experiencing fewer supply interruptions, sewer flooding incidents and faster incident response times.
Shares rose 21p to 2202p.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Glencore up 5.3p at 95.9p, Anglo American up 18.6p at 435.8p, Fresnillo up 28.5p at 749p and Antofagasta up 18.9p at 517.5p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were BHP Billiton down 20.3p at 833.2p, National Grid down 13.8p at 932.1p, Rolls-Royce down 5.5p at 601.5p and Reckitt Benckiser down 39p at 6346p.
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