Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Automobiles & Parts, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Industrial Transportation sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.03% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Aviva PLC (LON:AV), which rose 3.47% or 14.10 points to trade at 420.90 at the close. Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) added 2.25% or 32.50 points to end at 1477.50 and Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV) was up 2.13% or 31.50 points to 1512.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO), which lost 5.54% or 330.8 points to trade at 5637.0 in late trade. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd DRC (LON:0593xq) declined 3.31% or 56.00 points to end at 1638.50 and Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) shed 2.54% or 7.10 points to 272.60.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1023 to 931 and 453 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.11% or 1.85 to $1755.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.09% or 0.06 to hit $69.31 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.08% or 0.06 to trade at $71.50 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.28% to 1.3833, while EUR/GBP rose 0.35% to 0.8488.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 92.927.