Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Food & Drug Retailers and Industrial Engineering sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO), which rose 5.25% or 28.50 points to trade at 571.00 at the close. J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) added 3.07% or 7.200 points to end at 241.600 and EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) was up 2.96% or 31.000 points to 1078.000 in late trade.
Biggest losers included British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS), which lost 2.28% or 113.00 points to trade at 4834.00 in late trade. Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) declined 2.21% or 19.50 points to end at 863.00 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) shed 1.66% or 68.50 points to 4060.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1345 to 709 and 476 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.52% or 7.05 to $1355.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 2.82% or 1.32 to hit $48.11 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.81% or 0.90 to trade at $50.75 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.81% to 1.3144, while EUR/GBP fell 0.40% to 0.8625.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.44% at 94.27.