Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Forestry & Paper and Oil Equipment Services & Distribution sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 2.15%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO), which rose 6.45% or 47.60 points to trade at 785.60 at the close. Schroders PLC (LON:SDR) added 6.27% or 153.00 points to end at 2592.00 and Mondi PLC (LON:MNDI) was up 5.76% or 92.50 points to 1697.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), which lost 1.49% or 13.20 points to trade at 875.20 in late trade. Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP) declined 1.31% or 1.45 points to end at 109.05 and BT Group PLC (LON:BT) shed 1.15% or 2.75 points to 237.35.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1553 to 502 and 304 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.63% or 8.15 to $1286.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.97% or 0.93 to hit $48.02 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.09% or 1.17 to trade at $57.12 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.80% to 1.2732, while EUR/GBP fell 0.70% to 0.8954.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 95.748.