By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Traders in London reached for the buy button on Tuesday, sending the benchmark stock index higher for the first time this week.

The FTSE 100 index added 1.7% to close at 6,372.33, recovering from a 0.7% loss from Monday. European stocks also rebounded, lifted by media reports that the European Central Bank is considering buying corporate bonds to further stimulate the eurozone's ailing economy.

GKN PLC added 3.6% after the engineering group reported a rise in third-quarter pretax profit.

Oil firms posted major gains, tracking a rise in oil prices. Shares of BP PLC (BP) rose 2.8% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) picked up 3.5%.

Shire PLC (SHPGY) climbed 2.6% after AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) late Monday formally dropped its plan to acquire the Irish drug maker.

On a more downbeat note, shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC lost 2.1%, after the consumer-products company cautioned that full-year sales would come in at the lower end of its previously forecast range. Read about more big stock moves in Europe here.

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