Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Mining, Industrial Metals & Mining and Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.67%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW), which rose 5.17% or 19.90 points to trade at 405.00 at the close. Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT) added 4.99% or 74.50 points to end at 1569.00 and Glaxosmithkline (LONDON:GSK) was up 4.54% or 67.50 points to 1553.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ashtead Group (LONDON:AHT), which lost 2.46% or 27.00 points to trade at 1073.00 in late trade. BT Group (LONDON:BT) declined 2.42% or 10.90 points to end at 439.10 and Carnival (LONDON:CCL) shed 2.13% or 63.00 points to 2900.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1250 to 817 and 394 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.69% or 8.40 to $1229.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 3.01% or 1.54 to hit $52.75 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract rose 3.11% or 1.84 to trade at $61.12 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.04% to 1.5392, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00% to 0.7412.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.13% at 94.16.