Britain's top share index rose 0.7 percent in early trade on Tuesday as energy stocks, buoyed by firming crude prices, led a broad-based rally ahead of the final reading for UK Q3 GDP.
At 0913 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 36.56 points at 5,330.55, having closed up 97.18 points, or 1.9 percent on Monday its biggest one-day percentage gain since Dec. 1, albeit in light volumes.
"Equities look set to continue nudging their way higher as we move towards the Christmas break although volumes are likely to keep falling as the week progresses," said Cameron Peacock, market analyst at IG Markets.
Energy stocks added the most points to the FTSE 100 index, helped by the crude price, stabilising around $74 a barrel.
Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, BP and Tullow Oil added 0.3 to 1.5 percent.
Cairn Energy was up 5 percent after the company's 10 for 1 share split took effect.
Cairn's shares closed at its highest level since June 2008 on Monday after the explorer said it had secured a rig to allow it to commence a drilling programme offshore western Greenland.
As risk appetite spread among investors, miners also featured heavily on the FTSE gainers chart.
Lonmin, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Randgold Resources climbed 0.3 to 1.4 percent.
London-listed miners have outperformed the FTSE this year by around 80 percent, boosted by hopes of a recovery in demand as the global economy works its way out of recession.
UK Q3 GDP EYED
Investors were looking toward the final reading for UK third-quarter GDP, scheduled for release at 0930 GMT.
The number is expected by economists to show a further upward revision, with a quarterly contraction of 0.1 percent predicted rather than the 0.3 percent decline previously thought.
"This does of course bring with it the outside chance that we could see a return to positive territory here which would certainly give traders something to chew on," added IG's Peacock.
In the U.S., later in the session, a final estimate of U.S. third-quarter GDP is also expected, as well as existing home sales data for November.
Defensive issues, traditionally laggards in a bull market, were also higher as the pre-Christmas rally took hold.
Pharmaceutical firms; AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline rose 1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively, while tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco each gained 0.5 percent.
Banks were broadly higher with Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, and Standard Chartered adding between 0.3 and 1.1 percent.
However, HSBC missed out, losing 0.3 percent after BofA Merrill Lynch removed Europe's biggest bank from its sector most preferred list.
Travel groups Tui Travel and Thomas Cook fell 0.6 and 0.2 percent respectively, hit by concerns over the travel chaos experienced in the UK and Europe after heavier than usual snowfalls.
In the second tier, housebuilders were standout performers, led by Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey, which were up 4.4 and 4.3 percent respectively, after Goldman Sachs upped both stocks on valuation grounds in a sector review.
The UK blue chip index is up 54 percent from a six-year low hit in March, though it is still 1.7 percent below its level of mid-September 2008 before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
