Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Electrical, Fixed Line Telecommunications and Real Estate Investment Trusts REITs sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.22% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS), which rose 4.82% or 295.00 points to trade at 6415.00 at the close. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 4.62% or 54.00 points to end at 1224.00 and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) was up 1.92% or 35.00 points to 1857.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which lost 2.30% or 37.00 points to trade at 1572.00 in late trade. Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) declined 1.67% or 24.00 points to end at 1411.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) shed 1.31% or 9.00 points to 676.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 908 to 889 and 451 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 1.49% or 16.95 to $1157.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.78% or 0.42 to hit $53.64 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.46% or 0.26 to trade at $56.70 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.05% to 1.2234, while EUR/GBP rose 0.59% to 0.8572.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.53% at 102.69.