In London on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 added 1.81 percent to 6,196 and the FTSE 250 was up 2.55 percent to 10,910.7.
Miners were higher on the day after BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) announced that its underlying profit was up 35 percent in the full year on increased demand from China and on higher commodity prices.
BHP was 4.92 percent higher to £13.65, taking other miners with it.
Anglo-American (LSE: AAL) was up 4.68 percent to £27.52, while Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) gained 6.19 percent to 694.5p and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) added 6.81 percent to £32.80 and Lonmin (LSE: LMI) jumped 7.22 percnet to £31.77.
Pubs operator Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) added 6.4 percent to £10.39 on positive broker comment.
Rivals Mitchells & Butlers (LSE: MAB) and Enterprise Inns (LSE: ETI) were also higher, gaining 3.8 percent to 704p and 5.8 percent to 611p respectively.
Some banks also saw gains. HSBC (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) was up 1.2 percent to 907p after it said it will close an office in Indiana next year and will eliminate 600 jobs on account of subprime problems.
Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN; SEHK: 2888) gained 2.2 percent to £15.75, while Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) added 3.7 percent to 728p.
Construction-related shares did well on the 250.
Construction engineering firm Keller Group (LSE: KLR) added 6.88 percent to 987p.
Atkins (LSE: ATK), which offers construction management and consulting services, was up 8.61 percent to £10.28, while builder Severfield-Rowen (LSE: SFR) was the best perfomrer of the day on the 250 as it gained 8.83 percent to £22.68.
The oil sector was mixed.
JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) had the worst day on the 250, falling 4.25 percent to 354.75.
On the other hand, Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW; OTC: TUWLY) was 4.4 percent higher to 483p after it said it had made a “significant” discovery offshore near Ghana.
The worst performer on the 100 was Scottish & Southern Energy (LSE: SSE) with a drop of 2.94 percent to £13.85.
In the telecommunications sector, Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) was 0.26 percent lower to 156p, while BT Group (LSE: BT.A; NYSE: BT) dropped 2.24 percent to 305p.
In the retail sector, DSG International (LSE: DSGI) was down 0.63 percent to 159p.