With the Labour Government committed to building a substantial number of homes, investors looked beyond a poor first-half performance from brickmaker Ibstock and bought stock on hopes for a windfall.

Ibstock had a tough first half as elevated mortgage rates kept the housing market challenging.

Half-year profits plunged by more than 60 per cent, as revenue declined 20 per cent.

This led Ibstock to more than halve its interim dividend. But management remain confident its construction products will benefit from growing demand, and shares rose 4.3 per cent, or 7.4p, to 179.6p.

Housebuilders were also in demand on the building boost hopes, helped by data showing UK house prices rose by the most in six months in July.

Persimmon added 2.5 per cent, or 37p, to 1538.5p, and Barratt Developments climbed by 1.7 per cent, or 8.8p, to 521p.

As the recovery from the recent global mini-crash continued, the FTSE 100 rose 1.75 per cent, or 140.19 points, higher to 8168.24. while the FTSE 250 was ahead 1.02 per cent, or 208.33 points, at 20,576.03.

Banks were among the top gainers as global markets recovered, with Standard Chartered up 2.8 per cent, or 19.2p, to 706.2p, NatWest ahead 3.6 per cent, or 11.6p, to 334.6p, and Lloyds up 3.3 per cent, or 1.84p, at 57p.

Staying with financial services, Legal & General added 1.3 per cent, or 2.8p, to 219.5p as the life and pensions group posted interim profits that beat analyst forecasts, its results driven by higher annuity sales.

Wealth manager Quilter rose 4.6 per cent, or 5.9p, to 133.4p after its half-year earnings also beat forecasts and it posted stronger net inflows of cash.

Stock Watch -  Simec Atlantis Energy

Simec Atlantis Energy gained 15.6 per cent, or 0.35p, to 2.6p as it looks to turn the Uskmouth site in Wales into a sustainable energy park.

It has taken full ownership of the 120MW battery energy storage system project on the site of a decommissioned power station’s old cooling towers, which have been demolished.

Uskmouth will house one of the UK’s largest battery energy storage projects. The target grid connection date is October.

And the inter-dealer broker TP ICAP put on 7.8 per cent, or 16.5p, to close at 227.5p after a rise in first-half profit as it considers a US listing for its data and analytics business.

Away from financials, Tullow Oil rose 0.9 per cent, or 0.24p, to 27.68p as the oil and gas explorer saw its first half profits rise even though revenue declined.

Tritax Big Box REIT added 1.6 per cent, or 2.6p, to 162.1p on its results.

Meanwhile, WPP shares dipped as it revealed plans to sell its controlling stake in marketing firm FGS Global to KKR.

Soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC fell 1.5 per cent, or 42p, to 2698p after higher financing costs outweighed an increase to its full year forecasts after posting increased first-half revenue.

And 4imprint shed 2.3 per cent, or 130p, to 5490p as the marketer and distributor of promotional products’ first-half demand fell short of expectations.

Among the small caps, Mast Energy surged 31 per cent, or 0.05p, higher to 0.19p as its first refurbished generator set achieved revenue in the first month of operation.

And Samuel Heath gained 12.1 per cent, or 35p, to 325p after the shower and bathroom accessory maker said that its half-year revenue had risen.

But Botswana Diamonds dropped 18.8 per cent, or 0.07p, to 0.33p as the African-focused explorer raised £250,000 through a placing – the money will be used to fund exploration activities.