Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, Mobile Telecommunications and Tobacco sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.53% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which rose 5.72% or 8.65 points to trade at 159.80 at the close. Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP) added 4.09% or 7.95 points to end at 202.30 and CRH PLC (LON:CRH) was up 4.08% or 99.00 points to 2525.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shire PLC (LON:SHP), which lost 3.86% or 153.50 points to trade at 3821.50 in late trade. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RB) declined 2.78% or 161.00 points to end at 5625.00 and GKN PLC (LON:GKN) shed 2.03% or 9.70 points to 467.90.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1085 to 859 and 169 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.61% or 8.20 to $1340.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.22% or 0.15 to hit $68.44 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $73.83 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.37% to 1.4035, while EUR/GBP fell 0.11% to 0.8754.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.44% at 90.03.