Leading shares closed higher for the third successive day Monday, with Bank of America's results helping Wall Street remain in positive territory, as well as boosting the UK banking sector.
At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 27.9 points to 5,404.3.
Lender HBOS was the most traded stock, seeing 252 million shares switch owners, followed by bank RBS, which saw 194 million units change hands.
UK banks made gains after second-quarter results from Bank of America came in better than expected -- with net income of $3.41 billion, down from last year, but not by as much as some had forecast.
But bucking the strong sector trend was HBOS, shedding 17.50 pence -- or 6.21 percent -- to close at 264.50, after the mortgage bank said shareholders subscribed to buy just 8.3 percent of shares in its 4 billion pound rights issue, leaving its underwriters to try to sell almost 3.8 billion pounds of shares.
Advertising giant WPP Group was the day's second-worst performer, down 20.50 pence -- or 4.18 percent -- to close at 469.75.
On the upside, rising base metals provided the impetus for miners.
The day's start performer was Ferrexpo. The miner gained 20.50 pence -- or 7.59 percent -- to close at 290.50.
It was followed by property giant Land Securities, which added 69 pence -- or 5.82 percent -- to close at 1255.
