By Atul Prakash
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index extended the previous session's rally on Friday, with a jump in commodities-related stocks on the back of stronger oil and metals prices boosting the overall market.
The FTSE 100 (FTSE) jumped 1.8 percent to 5,879.57 points by 0937 GMT, building on Thursday's similar gains and moving away from this week's "bear market" territory, a technical term to define a slump of 20 percent from an index's previous peak.
The blue-chip index, up 1.3 percent so far this week, headed for its first positive weekly close this year.
The UK Oil and Gas index (FTNMX0530) surged more than 4 percent after oil prices rose 5 percent to scale the $30 mark breached last week, with cold U.S. and European weather as well as firmer financial markets giving traders reason to cash in on record short positions.
The UK mining index (FTNMX1770) was up 3 percent, supported by a rise in prices of key industrial metals.
"In the short term, the FTSE's commodities-led rally has legs and we cannot rule out a move towards 6,000 in the coming sessions," Jawaid Afsar, senior trader at Securequity, said.
"However, its medium-longer-term remain uncertain as some serious damage has been done to its technical outlook. The FTSE is still flirting around its 'bear market' territory and a fall below 5,800 could lead to a slump towards the 5,200-5,300 area."
Commodities-related stocks featured among the top gainers in the FTSE 100 index. Shares in Antofagasta (L:ANTO), BHP Billiton (L:BLT), Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa) and BG Group (L:BG) rose 3.9 to 7.8 percent.
Pearson (L:PSON), former owner of the Financial Times, was the only negative stock in the FTSE. Pearson fell 2.3 percent after a series of target price cuts by companies including JP Morgan, Bernstein, Natixis and Barclays (L:BARC).