Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Automobiles & Parts, Travel & Leisure and Financial Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 2.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT), which rose 3.18% or 63.0 points to trade at 2046.0 at the close. EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) added 2.87% or 15.40 points to end at 552.20 and Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON) was up 2.36% or 3.65 points to 158.25 in late trade.
Biggest losers included British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS), which lost 1.95% or 54.5 points to trade at 2745.5 in late trade. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) declined 1.18% or 26.00 points to end at 2186.00 and B&M European Value Retail SA (LON:BMEB) shed 1.00% or 6.20 points to 613.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1445 to 532 and 459 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.41% or 7.35 to $1809.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.04% or 0.76 to hit $73.52 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.17% or 0.88 to trade at $76.16 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.50% to 1.3414, while EUR/GBP fell 0.37% to 0.8449.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 96.005.