Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Software & Computer Services and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Paddy Power Betfair PLC (LON:PPB), which rose 4.34% or 350.00 points to trade at 8420.00 at the close. 3I Group PLC (LON:III) added 3.58% or 32.00 points to end at 927.00 and Micro Focus International (LON:MCRO) was up 2.76% or 66.00 points to 2460.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included National Grid PLC (LON:NG), which lost 3.63% or 39.50 points to trade at 1050.00 in late trade. Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) declined 3.40% or 27.50 points to end at 781.00 and ITV PLC (LON:ITV) shed 2.10% or 4.10 points to 191.60.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1049 to 920 and 423 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.65% or 8.29 to $1263.71 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.63% or 0.79 to hit $49.11 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.26% or 0.64 to trade at $51.40 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.03% to 1.2894, while EUR/GBP fell 0.30% to 0.8698.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 97.10.