Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Banking sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN), which rose 4.86% or 29.40 points to trade at 635.00 at the close. Rightmove PLC (LON:RMV) added 1.85% or 10.20 points to end at 561.20 and AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) was up 1.83% or 184.00 points to 10,220.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP), which lost 2.96% or 19.60 points to trade at 643.00 in late trade. Admiral Group PLC (LON:ADML) declined 1.40% or 36.00 points to end at 2,533.00 and Schroders PLC (LON:SDR) shed 1.34% or 5.40 points to 397.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 942 to 779 and 725 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.91% or 18.45 to $2,049.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 2.43% or 1.91 to hit $76.70 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 2.32% or 1.94 to trade at $81.73 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.15% to 1.27, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.09% to 0.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 103.80.