Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Industrial Metals & Mining and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.60% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Prudential PLC (LON:PRU), which rose 2.69% or 44.00 points to trade at 1680.50 at the close. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) added 2.52% or 22.80 points to end at 926.80 and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) was up 2.20% or 47.00 points to 2184.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG), which lost 3.34% or 8.80 points to trade at 254.50 in late trade. Dixons Carphone PLC (LON:DC) declined 2.94% or 4.35 points to end at 143.80 and Provident Financial PLC (LON:PFG) shed 2.31% or 11.80 points to 500.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1164 to 894 and 359 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.19% or 2.40 to $1296.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.74% or 0.46 to hit $62.56 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.39 to trade at $69.79 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.59% to 1.2999, while EUR/GBP rose 0.61% to 0.8631.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 97.020.