Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment Trusts REITs, Life Insurance/Assurance and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Prudential PLC (LON:PRU), which rose 4.17% or 48.50 points to trade at 1,211.50 at the close. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) added 4.01% or 71.00 points to end at 1,841.00 and London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LON:LSEG) was up 3.24% or 262.00 points to 8,346.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG), which lost 3.75% or 10.20 points to trade at 262.00 in late trade. Diageo PLC (LON:DGE) declined 2.50% or 93.00 points to end at 3,622.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) shed 1.85% or 27.50 points to 1,460.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1141 to 624 and 509 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.02% or 0.35 to $1,999.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.19% or 1.64 to hit $76.40 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 2.30% or 1.80 to trade at $80.02 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.66% to 1.26, while EUR/GBP fell 0.57% to 0.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 101.34.