Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare Equipment & Services, Tobacco and Chemicals sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.02% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS), which rose 4.01% or 295.00 points to trade at 7655.00 at the close. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 3.77% or 60.00 points to end at 1651.00 and Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) was up 3.30% or 6.30 points to 197.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW), which lost 2.74% or 5.20 points to trade at 184.80 in late trade. Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) declined 2.02% or 7.60 points to end at 367.70 and United Utilities Group PLC (LON:UU) shed 1.96% or 20.00 points to 1002.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1115 to 904 and 417 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.71% or 8.99 to $1275.99 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.41% or 0.68 to hit $47.68 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.28% or 0.65 to trade at $49.98 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 1.2883, while EUR/GBP rose 0.52% to 0.8749.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 96.70.