Britain's leading share index ended at its highest closing level in more than five years on Monday, led by Compass after the catering group sold one of its units.
The market got a further boost from mining and metals stocks, as commodity prices continued to charge ahead.
Copper miner Antofagasta was one of the top sector gainers, finishing up 3.3 percent as copper prices reached a record high.
The rest of the sector was also on an upward trend, with Kazakhmys and Anglo American nearly 3 percent higher, mirroring gains for several metals prices including zinc and nickel.
Oil stocks such as BP and Shell offer further upward support as US crude oil prices traded near $68 a barrel - within a few dollars of record highs set last year.
Supply concerns are being fuelled by tension between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme and as militants threaten further violence against oil workers in Nigeria.
By the end of play, the FTSE 100 was up 40.9 points at 6,067, its highest close since February 2001. The index also finished at the day's peak, putting it within striking distance of last week's five-year high on an intraday basis of 6,074.2.
The move marked a recovery from Friday's dip, when strong US economic data renewed worries of more interest rate rises in the world's biggest economy.
Analysts remained broadly upbeat on the outlook for the UK stock market, which has seen a rise of about 8 percent in the FTSE so far this year, on top of a nearly 17 percent gain in 2005.
"We recently raised the FTSE target to 6,350 for this year so we can still see upside from current levels. As far as we're concerned, all the fundamentals are still firmly in place," said Robert Parkes, UK equity strategist at HSBC Securities.
"When I say fundamentals, we're talking about earnings, valuations. The interest rate environment in the UK isn't a problem, with rates having peaked. The M&A driver is still very significant and the recycling theme is one we've been pushing, whereby billions of pounds are being returned to investors via share buybacks and take-overs of UK companies."
Views on the next take-over target continued to be a key influence on stock moves. M&A has been a primary driver in the FTSE's rise to five-year highs in recent months and analysts said the trend looked set to continue due to cheap cash and relatively low valuations.
Pest control-to-security services firm Rentokil Initial gained 1.4 percent after a Belgian newspaper said French securities company Securifrance had signed a declaration of intent to purchase Rentokil's Belgian security unit.
Mid-cap listed information technology firm Dimension Data also featured with a 3.8 percent rise. Traders cited broad speculation that Didata, which has overhauled its business, could get an offer if the technology sector consolidates.
But waning bid talk put pressure on chemicals company ICI, down 2.4 percent. Dealers cited less enthusiasm over take-over stories which had pushed the stock higher last week.
Compass shares topped the blue chip leaderboard, rising as much as 6 percent after the world's largest catering group said on Sunday it had agreed to sell its travel concession business for 1.8 billion pounds. However, the stock edged off of early highs to finish up 4 percent as analysts cited lingering concerns related to UN contracts and campaigns over the quality of British school lunches.
GlaxoSmithKline was a standout in the pharmaceutical sector, up 1.2 percent on relief it would not be buying Serono after the Swiss biotech company called off a five-month search for a suitor, saying the offers it had received were too low.