Britain's leading shares rose for the second day in a row on Thursday, boosted by strength in a raft of mining stocks, including Rio Tinto, as fears that Chinese demand may be receding were branded as overdone.
Global banking giant HSBC also rose, gaining 1.6 percent in the wake of its announcement it plans to buy a stake in China's fifth-biggest lender.
The FTSE-100 ended up 16.5 points, or 0.4 percent, at 4,503.2 in fairly brisk turnover of three billion shares.
But the benchmark failed to hang on to an earlier jump to 4,516.7 - its highest level since May 5 - after Wall Street opened lower following weaker-than-expected manufacturing data and a slight increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit.
That data, however, lent credence to the view that US rates will remain on hold for now.
"Anything that suggests the recovery is anything less than robust will knock sentiment," said a sales trader.
Dealers said the market mood remained twitchy in the run-up to the planned June 30 transfer of government to Iraqis by US-led occupiers.
Mining firms accounted for around half of the FTSE's gain amid confidence that China's booming economy had not yet peaked.
Rio Tinto led blue chip gainers with a 3.5 percent rise after it unveiled a pact to supply more iron ore to Chinese steel-makers. Miners Xstrata and Anglo American each gained around 2.5 percent.
Andrew Hobson, a fund manager at Exeter Asset Management, said the market may be coming to an end of range-bound trading if the market sees a trend of rising rates tailing off next year.
"The market's going to look ahead to a point when UK rates are going to be stable," he said, adding that a smooth Iraq handover may also help to calm sentiment.
"If we've been going sideways for six months it's easy to say that we'll go sideways for a bit longer. But I'm wary when everyone's saying that," he added.
Shares in AB Foods weighed on the blue chip index as European Union moves to shake up industry subsidies threatened swingeing price cuts for the commodity. AB Foods shed 2.4 percent while among mid-caps, shares in sugar firm Tate & Lyle dropped 3.9 percent.
Mortgage lenders were largely weaker after HBOS prepared investors for a steeper fall in profit margin this year and said it might miss a target for shareholder returns. HBOS shares dipped one percent, while Bradford & Bingley slid 1.7 percent.
But building materials firm Hanson was the biggest FTSE failure with a 5.2 percent drop after it warned that first-half profits would fall due to a weaker dollar and higher pension costs.
The biggest mid-cap failure was night-club operator Luminar, down 7.3 percent as concerns about tough market conditions were heightened by fears more spending in pubs will draw money away from its clubs.
In contrast shares in healthcare software maker iSoft rose more than six percent after dealers said they expected a raft of analyst upgrades following Wednesday's 56 percent rise in annual profits.
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