In London on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 was up by 0.4 percent to 4,363.7, its best effort since late August 2001, while the FTSE 250 was also up 0.4 percent to 7,702.4.

It was the first time that the mid-caps index had broken the 7,700 level. Trading reached a volume of 2.8 billion shares.

The oil sector was up substantially on Monday’s spike in crude oil prices. BP gained 1.5 percent to 659p, Royal Dutch Shell’s “B” shares were up 2.2 percent to £19.09, and Oilexco added 4.2 percent to 161p. Tullow Oil rose 3.8 percent to 207 ½p and Paladin Resources were up 6.7 percent to 293 ½p.

In other energy groups, Cairn Energy added 6.8 percent to £17.20 when UBS raised its rating to “buy” and increased its price target from £15.30 to £19.60. Meanwhile, BG Group gained 3 percent to 514 ½p on rumors that it might be a takeover target in the sights of China’s CNOOC after the Chinese company withdrew from the bidding for US oil company Unocal.

The mining sector was also up on higher commodities prices, especially that of copper. Xstrata gained 1.9 percent to £12.75, while Rio Tinto was up 1.4 percent to £20.48.

In the banking sector, Standard Chartered gained 2.4 percent to £12.40 on upgrades from several brokers following Monday’s positive quarterly report.