Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrial Engineering, Oil Equipment Services & Distribution and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 1.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Sports Direct International PLC (LON:SPD), which rose 7.07% or 23.600 points to trade at 357.600 at the close. Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) added 6.26% or 77.00 points to end at 1307.00 and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) was up 6.01% or 3.6900 points to 65.0500 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS), which lost 4.55% or 315.00 points to trade at 6610.00 in late trade. Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) declined 1.19% or 37.00 points to end at 3069.00 and Shire PLC (LON:SHP) shed 1.07% or 43.00 points to 3956.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1591 to 567 and 402 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.57% or 7.35 to $1291.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 2.92% or 1.35 to hit $47.56 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 3.22% or 1.52 to trade at $48.71 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.71% to 1.4305, while EUR/GBP fell 0.35% to 0.7876.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.40% at 94.39.