Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Forestry & Paper, Mining and Chemicals sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 added 0.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS), which rose 2.69% or 119.00 points to trade at 4546.00 at the close. Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) added 2.60% or 25.10 points to end at 990.70 and Johnson Matthey (LONDON:JMAT) was up 2.43% or 74.00 points to 3120.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3I Group (LONDON:III), which lost 3.09% or 16.50 points to trade at 517.00 in late trade. Severn Trent Plc (LONDON:SVT) declined 2.88% or 61.00 points to end at 2058.00 and TUI AG (LONDON:TUIT) shed 1.23% or 14.00 points to 1123.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1383 to 1201 and 434 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 1.95% or 22.90 to $1199.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.50% or 0.30 to hit $60.63 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.27 to trade at $64.14 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.30% to 1.5880, while EUR/GBP rose 0.24% to 0.7177.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.45% at 94.06.