Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Electrical and Healthcare Equipment & Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.61%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), which rose 4.55% or 47.50 points to trade at 1091.50 at the close. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) added 3.88% or 343.0 points to end at 9187.0 and BHP Group PLC (LON:BHPB) was up 2.86% or 50.00 points to 1799.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which lost 3.24% or 22.20 points to trade at 663.00 in late trade. Carnival PLC (LON:CCL) declined 2.92% or 30.5 points to end at 1014.5 and WPP PLC (LON:WPP) shed 2.56% or 16.00 points to 608.20.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1060 to 1055 and 161 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.55% or 9.85 to $1810.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.27% or 0.11 to hit $40.64 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.48% or 0.21 to trade at $43.16 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.08% to 1.2558, while EUR/GBP rose 0.42% to 0.9107.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.45% at 95.890.