Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Electrical, Industrial Metals & Mining and Oil Equipment Services & Distribution sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 6.11% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were 3I Group PLC (LON:III), which rose 8.52% or 43.000 points to trade at 547.500 at the close. SSE PLC (LON:SSE) added 5.57% or 82.00 points to end at 1554.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was up 5.10% or 22.60 points to 465.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), which lost 4.77% or 8.600 points to trade at 171.600 in late trade. Dixons Carphone PLC (LON:DC) declined 4.59% or 15.40 points to end at 320.00 and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) shed 2.63% or 1.4600 points to 54.0600.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1559 to 636 and 372 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.32% or 4.25 to $1322.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.33% or 1.16 to hit $48.72 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 2.44% or 1.25 to trade at $50.07 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.39% to 1.3244, while EUR/GBP rose 0.91% to 0.8361.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.52% at 96.19.