Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Forestry & Paper and Construction & Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.67% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV), which rose 3.51% or 17.500 points to trade at 515.500 at the close. Travis Perkins PLC (LON:TPK) added 3.09% or 44.00 points to end at 1466.00 and ITV PLC (LON:ITV) was up 2.81% or 5.70 points to 208.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR), which lost 2.44% or 16.50 points to trade at 659.50 in late trade. Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) declined 1.89% or 6.50 points to end at 338.50 and BAE Systems PLC (LON:BAES) shed 1.30% or 8.000 points to 609.000.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1205 to 669 and 447 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.37% or 4.40 to $1195.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.79% or 0.42 to hit $52.59 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.31 to trade at $55.70 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.32% to 1.2198, while EUR/GBP fell 0.15% to 0.8713.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.14% at 101.32.