After gorging on chocolate for four days, traders are back at their desks and splurging on shares.
The Footsie leapt 83.51 points to 6916.97 thanks to a rally for oil and commodity prices.
Brent crude enjoyed its biggest daily rise in two months overnight, climbing almost 5%.
Oil producers followed the lead — BG Group jumped 28.4p to 881.5p, Shell rose 56p to 2182p, BP climbed 8.65p to 451.42p and oil and gas engineer Weir Group shot up 49p to 1785.5p.
On the mid-cap index gains were even more pronounced — Premier Oil jumped 11.5p to 144.85p, Ophir Energy rose 7.5p to 143.6p, Soco International rallied 7.2p to 167.6p and Tullow Oil — which has had a slippery time lately — climbed 13.1p to 297.8p.
Improving iron ore prices boosted miners, with Glencore climbing 5.85p to 286.62p and Anglo American rising 9.5p to 1006.5p.
Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said disappointing jobs numbers in the US last week also gave the leading share index a boost.
She said: “With US job creation very disappointing in March, investors are hoping that this should delay the point at which the Fed will begin hiking rates.
“As a result, ‘bad’ economic news is being perceived as positive, especially for those markets that would have suffered the most from higher US rates.”
Marks & Spencer rose 10p to 563.75p as Jefferies increased its target price.
The broker thinks recent sales figures — where women’s clothes, as modelled by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, finally showed signs of improvement — indicate that M&S is “back on track” after a difficult Christmas.
JPMorgan told clients to throw their chips behind budget carriers such as easyJet, down 8p at 1836p, and get out of traditional carriers such as British Airways-owner IAG, off 7p at 591.75p.
The bank started coverage of eastern European no-frills airline Wizz Air with a Buy rating, saying growth prospects are strong. Citi agreed and Wizz Air ascended 35p to 1450.5p.
Business software group Micro Focus announced a restructuring that will lead to around 500 job cuts. Despite this, Micro Focus said it was on track to meet forecasts for the year, helping it to inch up 1p to 1182.5p.
Cleeve Capital, the investment vehicle floated last December, announced a reverse takeover deal for broadband provider Satellite Solutions Worldwide, worth £5 million in shares.
Millionaire property developer Nick Candy is the second-biggest shareholder in Cleeve, suspended at 5.07p.
