Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Tobacco, Food & Drug Retailers and Media sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR), which rose 6.23% or 274.00 points to trade at 4,671.00 at the close. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) added 5.32% or 137.00 points to end at 2,713.00 and EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) was up 3.86% or 17.00 points to 457.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Centrica PLC (LON:CNA), which lost 9.93% or 14.20 points to trade at 128.85 in late trade. Airtel Africa Plc (LON:AAF) declined 7.04% or 8.10 points to end at 106.90 and Pershing Square Holdings Ltd (LON:PSHP) shed 6.69% or 274.00 points to 3,820.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1086 to 710 and 686 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 2.38% or 57.60 to $2,358.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.63% or 0.49 to hit $78.08 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.22% or 0.18 to trade at $81.89 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 1.29, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.38% to 0.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 104.03.