A banking stocks rally and investor cheer over strong sales for B&Q owner Kingfisher helped the London market surge to a three-week high.
The FTSE 100 Index was 82.8 points higher at 6219.3, thanks to an uplift from heavyweight financial stocks on the back of a 9% annual profit rise at Nationwide Building Society.
Barclays was up 5.7p to 181.4p, while Lloyds Banking Group was 2.2p higher at 72.4p, after Nationwide unveiled underlying pre-tax profits of £1.34 billion for the 12 months to April 4, up from £1.23 billion in the previous year.
Shares in Kingfisher surged more than 3% after it revealed a 16.2% rise in like-for-like sales at its trade outlet Screwfix, helping the wider group to notch up £2.7 billion worth of sales in the first quarter.
Commodity stocks also boosted the market after the price of oil rose 0.9% to 48.77 US dollars a barrel. BP was 0.3p higher at 357.8p, while Glencore rose 0.9p to 129.7p.
It helped London's top flight index shrug off worse-than-expected public sector net borrowing figures for April, which fell £0.3 billion to £7.2 billion compared with the same month last year.
Across Europe, Germany's Dax rose 2.2% and the Cac 40 in France was up 2.5% amid hopes that Greece's creditors will approve a new wave of rescue loans to prevent Athens defaulting on its debts.
Sterling surged 0.9% against the dollar to 1.462 after the Daily Telegraph said its latest survey of 800 people by ORB International gave the pro-EU side a 13-point lead - by 55% to 42% - among those certain to vote.
It was also buoyed by comments from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who reaffirmed the negative impact a Brexit vote would have on the UK economy during a meeting with the Treasury Select Committee.
The pound also soared 1.6% against the euro at 1.31.
In stocks, Kingfisher stepped up 12.5p to 373p as like-for-like sales at B&Q rose 3.6% and chief executive Veronique Laury, who is overseeing a turnaround plan at the retailer, said the results represent a "solid start to the year".
Kingfisher closed 10 B&Q stores in the period as part of plans to shut 65 overall. Across the group, which also operates in France and Poland, like-for-like sales were up 3.6%.
Away from the top tier, Halfords was 13.7p higher at 446p after it splashed out £18.4 million to acquire two bicycle firms as part of plans to ramp up its online offering in the premium market.
The FTSE 250 retailer snapped up online company Tredz, along with Wheelies, the UK's largest provider of bicycle replacement for insurance companies.
Supermarket giant Tesco was the biggest riser on the market after analysts at Bernstein said the consensus for Britain's biggest grocer was "too negative".
Shares in the firm rocketed nearly 7% or 10.9p to 171p.
Meanwhile, utility giant Severn Trent was up 52p to 2265p after it said customer complaints had fallen by more than a quarter despite a recent chlorine contamination scare that left thousands of households without water.
The group said it was "learning" from the supply woes, when the chlorine contamination scare saw 3,700 homes and businesses across Derbyshire told not to use water for more than 24 hours in March, while customers in the region were also hit by burst water mains and discolouration over the past few months.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers were Tesco up 10.9p to 171p, Old Mutual up 9.8p to 177.1p, Legal and General up 11.5p to 236.5p, Royal Bank of Scotland up 11.2p to 245.3p.
The biggest fallers were Fresnillo down 36p to 1041p, Rangold Resources down 195p to 5885p, Coca-Cola HBC down 41p to 1324p, Ashtead Group down 9.5p to 964p.
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