Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Aerospace & Defense, Food & Drug Retailers and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.67%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS), which rose 4.29% or 305.00 points to trade at 7410.00 at the close. Standard Life PLC (LON:SL) added 3.63% or 12.90 points to end at 368.70 and J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) was up 2.91% or 7.40 points to 261.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which lost 1.60% or 17.00 points to trade at 1043.00 in late trade. Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) declined 0.90% or 0.57 points to end at 63.02 and Shire PLC (LON:SHP) shed 0.89% or 41.00 points to 4562.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1138 to 811 and 479 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 1.15% or 14.45 to $1267.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.01% or 0.52 to hit $52.22 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.69% or 0.38 to trade at $55.27 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.55% to 1.2401, while EUR/GBP rose 0.28% to 0.8562.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 100.81.