Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, Life Insurance/Assurance and Fixed Line Telecommunications sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 2.01% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which rose 4.49% or 84.00 points to trade at 1953.00 at the close. WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) added 3.97% or 8.80 points to end at 230.65 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was up 3.79% or 31.20 points to 854.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which lost 1.76% or 2.10 points to trade at 117.50 in late trade. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) declined 1.47% or 13.20 points to end at 887.60 and Old Mutual Ltd (LON:OMU) shed 0.98% or 1.24 points to 125.56.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1578 to 520 and 288 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.79% or 10.15 to $1282.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.94% or 1.53 to hit $53.60 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.27% or 1.39 to trade at $62.57 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.67% to 1.2897, while EUR/GBP rose 0.39% to 0.8805.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 96.020.