The country's unemployment rate held at 3.8 percent, matching expectations, while the number of people in employment grew by 160,000 in the April-June period, a lot less than expected, official data showed.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 31 points, or 0.4 percent, at 7,540 after closing 0.1 percent higher on Monday.
BHP shares surged 4.4 percent after the mining giant posted record annual earnings and said it would return a record amount of cash to investors.
Ted Baker jumped 17 percent after the fashion brand agreed to a 211 million pound ($254.3 million) final cash offer from Juicy Couture, Reebok and David Beckham brand owner Authentic Brands Group LLC.
Darktrace rallied 19 percent. The cybersecurity company said it is in early stages of discussions with private equity firm Thoma Bravo about a possible takeover.
Mondi fell about 1 percent. The packaging and paper company has agreed to acquire the Duino mill near Trieste in Italy from the Burgo Group for a total consideration of 40 million euros.