Airline shares took off after a brace of carriers posted uplifting trading announcements as the wider market also posted gains following a key US jobs report.
Low-cost airline easyJet lifted 2% or 36p to 1827p as it revealed a 4.8% year-on-year hike in passengers last month, while Flybe was also up after reporting progress on its turnaround plans.
British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) also gained on the positive sentiment, as the FTSE 100 Index rose 46.4 points to 6695.6.
Markets were buoyed by American figures showing jobs in March grew slightly below expectations.
It meant the employment picture was not yet strong enough to spark a change in the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy, but nor was it so bad as to prompt fears over the strength of the recovery.
But while European markets cheered the update, with France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax turning higher, Wall Street's response was muted with the overall tone of the jobs report being mixed as the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%.
New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average saw early gains evaporate as it drifted into the red by the time of the close in London.
On currency markets, the pound held firm at 1.66 US dollars and 1.21 euros.
In London, airline stocks were gaining after the easyJet passenger update and Flybe reporting a 6% rise in passengers in its fourth quarter to March 31, after taking action to slash fares.
The regional carrier said it had also sold a fifth of seats for the summer season, up from 17% a year earlier. Shares rose 5%, or 7.2p, to 148.5p. IAG shared in the cheer, climbing 6.5p to 442.9p.
Tesco was a top-flight loser as finance director Laurie McIlwee confirmed that he was to step down ahead of the group's annual results in less than two weeks - and warned that it faced a period of "unprecedented change" in the supermarket industry. Reports had predicted he was to quit following shareholder pressure and clashes with chief executive Philip Clarke over strategy.
Shares fell 1%, or 4.3p, to 287.4p.
Another blue chip finance chief move was also in focus after Royal Bank of Scotland hired Ewen Stevenson from Credit Suisse to take over from Nathan Bostock. Shares closed 1.4p higher at 318.3p.
Marks & Spencer was on the back foot ahead of what is expected to be another disappointing trading update next week. Analysts predict a 1% drop in its general merchandise division, an 11th quarterly fall. Shares fell 9.7p to 461.9p.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers were CRH, up 69p to 1775p, RSA Insurance up 3.2p to 94.2p, Anglo American up 48.5p to 1565p and Legal & General up 6.6p to 217.7p.
The biggest FTSE 100 fallers were ARM Holdings, down 30p to 996p, Marks & Spencer down 9.7p to 461.9p and Barratt Developments down 6.6p to 409.9p.
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 hereComments are closed on this article