Traders heads recovered after New Year's Eve champagne pushing the FTSE 100 up to its highest point since the start of November.
The index closed at 4,539.79 – a rise of 105.62 points or 2.38 per cent.
On a slow day of trading, the miners pushed forward over the day – recording double digit gains – as hopes of a commodity price recovery grew.
Xstrata rose 19.14 per cent, Rio Tinto gained 13.56 per cent, BHP Billiton climbed 12.67 per cent, Vedanta Resources was up 12.26 per cent and Anglo American rose 11.00 per cent.
Leading the falls was Inmarsat – down 4.29 per cent – followed by FirstGroup which fell 3.97 per cent.
Ryan Kneale, market analyst at City bookmaker BetsForTraders.com, said: "Today's rally is a rather timid affair and lacks any real conviction.
“With trading volumes still thin and commodity prices rising, it is the rise in commodity stocks that is predominantly dragging the FTSE up.
“Elsewhere banking stocks have also started 2009 in positive territory, as talks of further rate easing by the Bank of England re-surfaced."
In New York, 2009 also started positively, with the Dow Jones up 1.63 per cent to 8.919.68.
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