Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financial Services, General Retailers and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 1.93% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were 3I Group PLC (LON:III), which rose 8.70% or 220.00 points to trade at 2,748.00 at the close. Next PLC (LON:NXT) added 6.68% or 568.00 points to end at 9,078.00 and St. James's Place PLC (LON:SJP) was up 5.56% or 24.30 points to 461.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which lost 3.82% or 74.50 points to trade at 1,873.50 in late trade. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) declined 1.36% or 32.50 points to end at 2,362.00 and Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) shed 1.34% or 1.70 points to 125.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1154 to 618 and 663 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.97% or 21.00 to $2,182.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.74% or 0.60 to hit $80.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.64% or 0.55 to trade at $85.40 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.93% to 1.27, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.40% to 0.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.62% at 103.68.