Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Food & Drug Retailers, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.78% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Experian PLC (LON:EXPN), which rose 5.59% or 95.50 points to trade at 1804.50 at the close. National Grid PLC (LON:NG) added 3.80% or 31.60 points to end at 864.10 and Capita PLC (LON:CPI) was up 3.58% or 4.55 points to 131.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG), which lost 7.16% or 42.80 points to trade at 555.00 in late trade. Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV) declined 1.55% or 30.50 points to end at 1941.00 and Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) shed 1.47% or 10.00 points to 671.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1107 to 789 and 348 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.14% or 1.80 to $1289.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.25% or 0.18 to hit $71.67 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.79% or 0.63 to trade at $79.91 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.22% to 1.3517, while EUR/GBP fell 0.26% to 0.8731.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 93.34.