Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Software & Computer Services, Construction & Materials and Fixed Line Telecommunications sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO), which rose 4.47% or 47.60 points to trade at 1111.40 at the close. Tui AG (LON:TUIT) added 3.92% or 37.40 points to end at 991.20 and Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) was up 3.10% or 5.56 points to 185.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included British Land Company PLC (LON:BLND), which lost 1.66% or 10.60 points to trade at 628.20 in late trade. Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) declined 1.52% or 19.50 points to end at 1259.50 and Next PLC (LON:NXT) shed 0.85% or 60.00 points to 6958.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1404 to 714 and 176 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.31% or 4.65 to $1527.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.33% or 0.20 to hit $60.86 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.05 to trade at $65.95 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.97% to 1.3126, while EUR/GBP rose 0.58% to 0.8506.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.50% at 96.540.