Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gas, Water & Multiutilities, Mobile Telecommunications and Fixed Line Telecommunications sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were ITV PLC (LON:ITV), which rose 4.28% or 7.40 points to trade at 180.40 at the close. Severn Trent PLC (LON:SVT) added 2.12% or 43.00 points to end at 2068.00 and National Grid PLC (LON:NG) was up 2.02% or 17.40 points to 876.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), which lost 4.30% or 112.00 points to trade at 2492.00 in late trade. Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD) declined 3.70% or 12.70 points to end at 330.20 and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) shed 2.26% or 26.00 points to 1123.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1002 to 916 and 347 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.28% or 3.50 to $1255.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.11% or 0.81 to hit $73.75 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.50% or 0.39 to trade at $77.00 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.27% to 1.3260, while EUR/GBP rose 0.09% to 0.8852.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.34% at 93.81.