Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Electrical, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Household Goods & Home Construction sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 2.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Babcock International Group (LONDON:BAB), which rose 9.39% or 93.00 points to trade at 1083.00 at the close. Centrica Plc (LONDON:CNA) added 8.08% or 20.80 points to end at 278.20 and St James`S Place (LONDON:SJP) was up 7.24% or 65.00 points to 962.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Glencore Xstrata Plc (LONDON:GLEN), which lost 0.25% or 0.75 points to trade at 302.60 in late trade. Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS) declined 0.23% or 11.00 points to end at 4764.00 and Fresnillo Plc (LONDON:FRES) gained 0.35% or 2.50 points to 706.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2089 to 521 and 456 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.49% or 5.80 to $1188.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.95% or 0.56 to hit $59.50 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.07 to trade at $65.61 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 1.26% to 1.5437, while EUR/GBP fell 1.64% to 0.7268.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 94.79.