Top flight shares in London leapt for the second day in a row as oil prices rose at the end of a turbulent week for global markets.
The FTSE 100 Index was up 126.2 points to 5900, leaving the market up by 1.7% across a week that saw top-flight shares swing back and forth.
Germany's DAX was 2% up, while the Cac 40 in France was 3% higher. In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up almost 100 points in early trading.
The pound was a cent up against the US dollar at just under 1.43, after official data showed that Britain's borrowing fell to a lower-than-expected £7.5 billion in December.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing excluding state-backed banks fell by £4.3 billion year-on-year in December, taking the overall figure to £74.2 billion for the first nine months of the year.
Sterling was two cents higher against the euro at just over 1.32.
The Footsie jumped 100 points on Thursday, after European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi assured rattled investors there was "no limit" to measures it would take to steady the eurozone area.
The ECB left its key interest rates untouched and did not ramp up its existing 1.5 trillion euro (£1.1 trillion) monetary stimulus programme, but held out the prospect of action in March which buoyed markets.
This followed the London market falling more than 3%, or 203.2 points, on Wednesday, hitting its lowest level since November 2012 on slowing growth in China as it officially slumped into bear market territory.
Trustnet Direct market analyst Tony Cross said on Friday: "It seems that it was yesterday's comments by Mario Draghi regarding further ECB stimulus that has been the game-changer - any change in this tune could quickly initiate a reversion."
Brent Crude lifted by more than two dollars to 31.44 US dollars in this session, after touching a 13-year low of 27.50 earlier in the week.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell were notable risers, lifting 10.5p to 352.7p and 69.5p to 1388p respectively.
Education giant Pearson was one of the few top flight fallers, slipping almost 2%, or 14.5p to 757.5p, after it was the biggest riser in the FTSE 100 Index on Thursday.
The group said on Thursday it would axe around 4,000 jobs as part of a group-wide cost-cutting plan.
However, broker Bernstein said on Friday the key question for Pearson remains whether demand will improve by 2018, and management "does not really know and cannot guarantee it will".
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Sports Direct International up 24.2p at 422p, Royal Dutch Shell up 69.5p at 1388p, BG Group up 47.5p at 980.2p and BT Group up 21.6p at 487.3p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Anglo American down 21.3p at 226.7p, Glencore down 3.7p at 78.6p, Pearson down 14.5p at 757.5p and Rio Tinto down 18.5p at 1635.5p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here