Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Oil Equipment Services & Distribution and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.25% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo Plc (LONDON:FRES), which rose 5.43% or 35.00 points to trade at 679.00 at the close. Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS) added 3.23% or 151.00 points to end at 4826.00 and Marks & Spencer Group (LONDON:MKS) was up 3.10% or 16.00 points to 531.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Next Plc (LONDON:NXT), which lost 4.00% or 305.00 points to trade at 7315.00 in late trade. British American Tobacco (LONDON:BATS) declined 3.37% or 128.00 points to end at 3668.00 and TUI AG (LONDON:TUIT) shed 2.23% or 27.00 points to 1181.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1255 to 832 and 401 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 1.41% or 16.20 to $1167.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in May fell 3.24% or 1.51 to hit $45.14 a barrel, while the May Brent Oil contract fell 3.25% or 1.81 to trade at $54.09 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.59% to 1.4743, while EUR/GBP fell 0.46% to 0.7220.
The US Dollar Index was up 2.20% at 99.52.