Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Electronic & Electrical Equipment, Food & Drug Retailers and Construction & Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 1.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Auto Trader Group Plc (LON:AUTOA), which rose 3.44% or 19.80 points to trade at 595.60 at the close. Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV) added 3.10% or 55.00 points to end at 1831.50 and Rentokil Initial PLC (LON:RTO) was up 2.95% or 13.80 points to 481.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Just Eat (LON:JE), which lost 1.70% or 15.00 points to trade at 865.60 in late trade. JSC VTB Bank DRC (LON:VTBRq) declined 1.22% or 0.019 points to end at 1.534 and Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) shed 1.22% or 53.0 points to 4302.0.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1411 to 703 and 223 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.44% or 6.95 to $1572.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 2.50% or 1.39 to hit $54.20 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 2.39% or 1.48 to trade at $60.56 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.32% to 1.3079, while EUR/GBP rose 0.13% to 0.8432.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 97.665.