Britain's top share index hit a seven-week high in cautious trading on Thursday ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting at which it is likely to announce a government bond buying scheme to try to boost the region's economy, Reuters reported.
A euro zone source said on Wednesday the ECB's Executive Board has proposed that the bank should buy 50 billion euros ($58 billion) in bonds per month from March -- the last big policy tool for breathing life into the flagging euro zone economy and fending off deflation.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 percent at 6,748.02 points by 0901 GMT after rising to 6,749.07 points, the highest level since early December.