Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Electronic & Electrical Equipment, Aerospace & Defense and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.82%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Halma PLC (LON:HLMA), which rose 5.72% or 143.00 points to trade at 2,645.00 at the close. Smurfit WestRock PLC (LON:SWR) added 4.71% or 198.00 points to end at 4,400.00 and Beazley PLC (LON:BEZG) was up 3.61% or 27.00 points to 776.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD), which lost 15.50% or 17.51 points to trade at 95.44 in late trade. Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) declined 3.31% or 2.36 points to end at 68.88 and National Grid PLC (LON:NG) shed 1.89% or 18.60 points to 964.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 921 to 909 and 620 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.53% or 14.10 to $2,665.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.29% or 0.89 to hit $69.64 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.19% or 0.87 to trade at $73.68 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.52% to 1.26, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.12% to 0.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.38% at 107.02.