Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the General Retailers, Banking and Industrial Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.57% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 6.89% or 420.00 points to trade at 6,518.00 at the close. Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) added 6.78% or 44.80 points to end at 705.20 and EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) was up 5.89% or 20.90 points to 375.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Croda International PLC (LON:CRDA), which lost 3.30% or 222.00 points to trade at 6,516.00 in late trade. Segro Plc (LON:SGRO) declined 2.52% or 20.20 points to end at 782.00 and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) shed 2.19% or 21.20 points to 946.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 927 to 841 and 489 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.13% or 20.95 to $1,838.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.70% or 1.24 to hit $74.08 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.37% or 1.07 to trade at $78.91 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.24% to 1.19, while EUR/GBP rose 0.65% to 0.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.81% at 104.86.