Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Food Producers, Tobacco and Beverages sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Coca Cola HBC AG (LONDON:CCH), which rose 4.66% or 57.0 points to trade at 1279.0 at the close. Marks & Spencer Group (LONDON:MKS) added 4.43% or 23.50 points to end at 554.00 and Imperial Tobacco Group (LONDON:IMT) was up 2.82% or 86.00 points to 3131.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT), which lost 2.62% or 38.50 points to trade at 1431.50 in late trade. Antofagasta (LONDON:ANTO) declined 2.11% or 15.50 points to end at 718.00 and Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) shed 1.92% or 19.50 points to 997.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1354 to 780 and 356 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.70% or 8.40 to $1199.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.18% or 0.59 to hit $49.50 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.78% or 1.58 to trade at $55.52 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.13% to 1.4843, while EUR/GBP rose 0.94% to 0.7329.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.76% at 97.77.