Britain's top share index gained ground on Tuesday, led by major mining stocks and supermarket retailer Marks & Spencer.

The FTSE 100 index was up by 1.2 per cent at 6,913.82 points in early session trading, putting it back near a record high of 7,065.08 points reached on March 24.

Mining companies, which account for about a tenth of the FTSE's overall market capitalisation, gained as the price of copper climbed on Tuesday.

Glencore and BHP Billiton were among the best-performing stocks on the FTSE 100 in percentage terms. So was M&S, which rose 2.9 per cent after Exane BNP Paribas increased its price target on the stock.

Royal Mail also rose 1.2 percent, helped by a surge in the shares of Dutch logistics and delivery company TNT after FedEx made a 4.4 billion-euro ($4.8 billion) offer to buy TNT.

However, British Airways operator International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) fell 1.4 percent after JP Morgan cut its rating to "neutral" from "overweight".

"IAG is suffering a little bit from the JP Morgan downgrade, but overall the market looks pretty healthy, and we should see some near-term upside," said Dafydd Davies, a partner at Charles Hanover Investments.

Hantec Markets' analyst Richard Perry was more cautious on the FTSE, given the uncertainty created by Britain's election on May 7.

Neither Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party nor Ed Miliband's Labour Party has a clear lead in the polls. A referendum on Britain's EU membership promised by the Conservatives is adding to nervousness among investors.

A Reuters poll last week forecast record highs for the FTSE 100 by the end of 2015, but it also predicted that the FTSE was likely to wobble in the run-up to the May vote.

"I think the FTSE will be very volatile over the next month, and it will be difficult for the market to make major progress," Perry said.

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