Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Household Goods & Home Construction, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Food Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.26% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR), which rose 13.43% or 449.50 points to trade at 3797.00 at the close. Coca Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH) added 4.03% or 77.0 points to end at 1989.0 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) was up 3.17% or 116.00 points to 3781.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN), which lost 4.36% or 35.200 points to trade at 773.000 in late trade. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) declined 3.96% or 27.50 points to end at 666.00 and Royal Dutch Shell PLC B (LON:RDSb) shed 1.80% or 40.00 points to 2185.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1058 to 886 and 403 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.18% or 2.20 to $1239.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.43% or 0.23 to hit $53.13 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.06 to trade at $55.59 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.47% to 1.2431, while EUR/GBP fell 0.09% to 0.8539.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.42% at 100.87.