Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Automobiles & Parts and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.82% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 7.88% or 175.00 points to trade at 2395.00 at the close. Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISA) added 4.95% or 41.00 points to end at 870.00 and Sports Direct International PLC (LON:SPD) was up 3.82% or 10.800 points to 293.700 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), which lost 7.19% or 13.800 points to trade at 178.200 in late trade. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) declined 3.58% or 70.00 points to end at 1884.00 and Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS) shed 3.01% or 260.00 points to 8375.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1562 to 542 and 451 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 1.65% or 22.55 to $1344.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.95% or 0.40 to hit $41.53 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.02% or 0.45 to trade at $43.84 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.31% to 1.3068, while EUR/GBP fell 0.09% to 0.8483.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.48% at 96.21.