Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Tobacco, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 2.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN), which rose 2.31% or 11.80 points to trade at 523.20 at the close. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) added 1.95% or 58.0 points to end at 3033.0 and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) was up 1.85% or 1.00 points to 54.97 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sberbank Of Russia (LON:SBNCyq), which lost 6.40% or 0.90 points to trade at 13.23 in late trade. B&M European Value Retail SA (LON:BMEB) declined 5.33% or 31.80 points to end at 564.80 and Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) shed 4.87% or 74.00 points to 1445.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1230 to 691 and 449 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.26% or 4.65 to $1816.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.02% or 1.66 to hit $83.78 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.67% or 1.41 to trade at $85.88 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.32% to 1.3660, while EUR/GBP fell 0.05% to 0.8350.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 95.200.