Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Media, Healthcare Equipment & Services and Pharmaceuticals & Biotech sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.27% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were SKY PLC (LON:SKYB), which rose 26.66% or 210.50 points to trade at 1000.00 at the close. ITV PLC (LON:ITV) added 5.51% or 10.00 points to end at 191.50 and Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) was up 4.61% or 32.50 points to 737.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Provident Financial (LON:PFG), which lost 3.64% or 103.00 points to trade at 2726.00 in late trade. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) declined 2.49% or 31.00 points to end at 1214.00 and Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) shed 2.47% or 5.90 points to 233.10.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1143 to 742 and 439 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.98% or 11.50 to $1160.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.32% or 0.67 to hit $51.51 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.28 to trade at $54.17 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.01% to 1.2580, while EUR/GBP fell 0.78% to 0.8375.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.62% at 101.74.