Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Automobiles & Parts, General Industrial and General Retailers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.20% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were GKN PLC (LON:GKN), which rose 26.24% or 87.30 points to trade at 420.00 at the close. Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) added 5.39% or 84.50 points to end at 1652.00 and Capita PLC (LON:CPI) was up 4.99% or 20.00 points to 420.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shire PLC (LON:SHP), which lost 1.82% or 66.50 points to trade at 3581.00 in late trade. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) declined 1.62% or 82.00 points to end at 4968.00 and Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD) shed 1.41% or 5.30 points to 371.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1097 to 933 and 134 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.70% or 9.20 to $1331.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.45% or 0.29 to hit $64.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.35% or 0.24 to trade at $69.50 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 1.12% to 1.3690, while EUR/GBP fell 0.34% to 0.8858.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.63% at 91.08.