The FTSE 100 trimmed its gains to 0.85% by late afternoon.
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and cruide operator Carnival Corp (LON:CCL) led the blue chips with a 4% gain.
Temporary power provider Aggreko (LON:AGK) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2.5% loss.
Oil & gas
BP (LON:BP) rose marginally, while fellow supermajor Shell (LON:RDSB) advanced 1.45%.
BG Group (LON:BG) and Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) lost 1%.
Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) did better, rising 1.2%.
Amec (LON:AMEC) and Petrofac (LON:PFC) tacked on less than 1%.
Premier Oil (LON:PMO) and Salamander Energy (LON:SMDR) led the midcaps with gains of 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.
Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL), JKX Oil & Gas (LON:JKX) and Soco International (LON:SIA) rose marginally.
Melrose Resources (LON:MRS) was sitting just below the opening level.
Service company Wood Group (LON:WG) advanced 3.2%.
North sea oilfield developer Xcite Energy (LON:XEL) and energy sector focused investor Xtract Energy (LON:XTR) led the juniors, soaring 22%.
EU focused oil and gas exploration, development and production company Northern Petroleum (LON:NOP) also did well, rallying 10%.
Mining
Precious metals
Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) was in the lead with a 3% gain.
Platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) added 1.9%.
Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) tacked on 1%, while fellow gold producer African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) rose marginally.
In the FTSE 250, Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) and Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) added 2.7% and 1.3% respectively, while Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) climbed 1%.
Gold and high-value base metals focused explorer Stratex International (LON:STI) and South America operating mining explorer Patagonia Gold (LON:PGD) were among the top performing juniors, rising 8% and 6% respectively.
Base metals
Mining stocks were on the rise today.
Anglo American (LON:AAL), Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) added just over 3%.
Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) added 2.9% and 2.6% respectively.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rose 2.4%.
BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advanced 2.1%.
London’s only listed pure iron ore producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) advanced 1.8%. Fellow FTSE 250 constituent Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR), which is developing the Moma titanium minerals mine in Mozambique, tacked on 2%.
Uranium and REE explorer Forte Energy (LON:FTE) led the small caps, rallying 23%.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) led the banking sector with a 4% gain.
Another part-nationalised bank, Lloyds (LON:LLOY) tacked on 1%, as did HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN).
Barclays LON:BARC) advanced 2.4%.
Standard Life (LON:SL) was atop the insurance sector with a 2.2% gain.
Old Mutual (LON:OML) and RSA Insurance Group (LON:RSA) added 1.7%.
Aviva (LON:AV) climbed 1.1%.
Prudential (LON:PRU) rose marginally.
Car insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM) and Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) held steady.
Private equity group 3i (LON:III) climbed 1.2%.
Small cap movers
Other notable movers among the small caps included manufacturer of VoltageMaster Active Energy (LON:AEG), which surged 19.5%.