By Sarah Turner

London's top index advanced to a fresh annual high on Monday, with gains from telecom Vodafone Group and oil and gas companies helping the advance.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 1.3%, or 65.32 points, to 5,227.19. It's the first time the index has traded over 5,200 since September last year.

Other European shares were higher, with Philips making sharp gains in Amsterdam after reporting a surprise quarterly profit on the back of cost-cutting and better-than-expected sales.

"This week, market attention will move away from the abundant expected data releases to focus firmly on corporate earnings reports," said Jon Adkins at RBS in a note to clients. "Our equity strategists see scope for another positive surprise following the stronger-than-expected results in the second-quarter."

Oil and gas firms were helping the advance in London on Monday, with BP (BP) shares up 1.5%, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) shares up 1.8% and BG Group shares up 1.4%.

The gains came as light sweet crude futures rose $1.15 cents at $72.92 a barrel. In the currency markets, sterling fell against the U.S. dollar, down 0.3% at $1.5804.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to announce Monday that the government hopes to cut the country's debt pile by 16 billion pounds ($25.4 billion) by selling government assets and real estate.

Around 3 billion pounds of the sale would come from selling assets such as state betting organization the Tote, tunnel crossings under the Thames and the English Channel and a book of student loans, according to news reports.

Vodafone Group (VOD) helped the gains in London, with shares in the index heavyweight up 3% after it detailed a cost-cutting move.

The mobile telecom giant said that it intends to transfer the listing of its American Depositary Receipts from the NYSE to the Nasdaq Global Select Market to benefit from lower annual listing fees.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered shares rose 2.2% after the banking group said that it has received approval to list in India, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing the head of the bank's Indian unit.

Still, Barclays (BCS) shares lost ground in the banking sector, down 1.1%. The lender is planning to spin off a 4 billion pound ($6.3 billion) portfolio of complex credit assets, according to a report in the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the plan.

Outside the top index, shares of commercial-television broadcaster ITV rose 1.9%.

It was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman Sachs, which sees a "modestly stronger-than-expected recovery" in the third and fourth quarters for television ad markets.

Meanwhile, ITV said that John Cresswell, chief operating officer, will become interim chief executive but then leave the group after a permanent CEO is appointed.

He will start when its chairman, Michael Grade, is replaced, and Crispin Davis and Michael Bishop both have said that they are not candidates for that role.

Shares of retailer JJB Sports rose 5.3%.

The firm said, following an investigation by its board, that rumors about the personal financial affairs of its executive chairman David Jones are "totally unfounded" and that the company is continuing with its 100 million pound ($158.2 million) capital raising.

Press reports last week said the share-sale plans had been halted while the firm investigated the rumors about the financial relationship between Jones and JJB's former CEO Dave Whelan.

International Personal Finance , which provides home credit to customers in emerging markets, jumped 10.6%.

The firm said that it has made good progress in the third quarter of 2009 and that, if the current improving trend continues, it's likely to post fiscal-year results materially ahead of market expectations.