Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Beverage and Food Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 1.00% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 6.95% or 114.50 points to trade at 1762.00 at the close. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 3.95% or 31.60 points to end at 832.20 and Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RB) was up 3.86% or 243.00 points to 6538.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL), which lost 5.48% or 20.20 points to trade at 348.70 in late trade. Hammerson PLC (LON:HMSO) declined 5.24% or 19.30 points to end at 349.10 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) shed 3.34% or 8.60 points to 248.90.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1080 to 988 and 323 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.33% or 4.25 to $1305.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.50% or 0.30 to hit $59.93 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.48 to trade at $68.02 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.10% to 1.3051, while EUR/GBP rose 0.57% to 0.8696.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.88% at 96.037.