Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, Life Insurance/Assurance and Financial Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 gained 1.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Standard Life Plc (LONDON:SL), which rose 4.22% or 18.30 points to trade at 452.30 at the close. St James`S Place (LONDON:SJP) added 3.82% or 35.00 points to end at 952.00 and TUI AG (LONDON:TUIT) was up 3.66% or 38.00 points to 1077.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ARM Holdings (LONDON:ARM), which lost 2.87% or 30.00 points to trade at 1015.00 in late trade. Weir Group (LONDON:WEIR) declined 1.18% or 19.00 points to end at 1596.00 and Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS) shed 0.72% or 30.00 points to 4152.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2037 to 521 and 451 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.35% or 4.10 to $1163.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.21% or 0.11 to hit $52.67 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $58.58 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.80% to 1.5501, while EUR/GBP rose 0.36% to 0.7202.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.72% at 95.97.