UK's FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday as oil and mining stocks recovered after concerns around the new coronavirus variant eased slightly, ahead of the OPEC meeting later in the day.
The commodity-heavy index gained 1.0% at 0805 GMT, with miners adding 1.9% as copper prices bounced back.
Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell climbed over 2% each as major producers prepared to discuss how to respond to the threat of a hit to fuel demand from the Omicron variant.
The FTSE 100 suffered its worst monthly performance in over a year in November as worries about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron and hawkish comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fuelled a selloff.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced 0.8%, with travel and leisure stocks recouping some of Tuesday's heavy losses.
In M&A news, software group Blue Prism rose 1.7% after it agreed to be bought by US-based SS&C Technologies for 1.24 billion pounds ($1.65 billion).
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