Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology Hardware & Equipment, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Chemicals sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 1.06% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Travis Perkins PLC (L:TPK), which rose 5.09% or 94.00 points to trade at 1939.00 at the close. Shire PLC (L:SHP) added 4.41% or 196.00 points to end at 4641.00 and WPP PLC (L:WPP) was up 4.30% or 61.00 points to 1480.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pearson PLC (L:PSON), which lost 5.21% or 49.50 points to trade at 900.50 in late trade. BG Group PLC (L:BG) declined 2.31% or 25.000 points to end at 1057.000 and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (L:RDSb) shed 1.52% or 27.5 points to 1775.5.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1585 to 603 and 431 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.30% or 3.50 to $1162.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.76% or 0.80 to hit $44.58 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.53% or 0.26 to trade at $47.83 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.27% to 1.5352, while EUR/GBP fell 0.49% to 0.7180.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.67% at 97.08.