Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Aerospace & Defense and Tobacco sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.18% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which rose 3.89% or 57.50 points to trade at 1536.50 at the close. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) added 3.56% or 60.60 points to end at 1761.00 and Bunzl PLC (LON:BNZL) was up 2.24% or 45.00 points to 2050.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS), which lost 7.04% or 22.80 points to trade at 301.20 in late trade. Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) declined 4.53% or 9.60 points to end at 202.30 and Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) shed 2.71% or 17.20 points to 617.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1016 to 1011 and 138 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.27% or 3.50 to $1322.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.59% or 1.01 to hit $64.58 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.84% or 0.58 to trade at $69.78 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.24% to 1.3540, while EUR/GBP rose 0.49% to 0.8889.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.51% at 91.64.