Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas Producers, Tobacco and Beverage sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 4.91% or 72.50 points to trade at 1548.00 at the close. Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) added 3.03% or 127.50 points to end at 4330.50 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) was up 1.86% or 53.00 points to 2905.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Babcock International Group PLC (LON:BAB), which lost 8.77% or 70.40 points to trade at 732.60 in late trade. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) declined 4.08% or 69.00 points to end at 1622.00 and Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) shed 2.98% or 72.00 points to 2340.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1169 to 759 and 340 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.91% or 11.20 to $1216.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.40% or 0.27 to hit $68.02 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.29% or 0.21 to trade at $72.69 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.63% to 1.2987, while EUR/GBP rose 0.37% to 0.8939.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.41% at 95.23.