Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Food & Drug Retailers, Media and Pharmaceuticals & Biotech sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.31%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO), which rose 5.11% or 20.90 points to trade at 430.00 at the close. Informa PLC (LON:INF) added 3.41% or 24.00 points to end at 728.40 and Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RKT) was up 2.00% or 118.00 points to 6,024.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intermediate Capital Group PLC (LON:ICP), which lost 6.34% or 95.50 points to trade at 1,410.00 in late trade. NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG) declined 3.47% or 9.20 points to end at 256.20 and Halma PLC (LON:HLMA) shed 3.42% or 83.00 points to 2,346.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1041 to 590 and 525 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.15% or 3.05 to $1,971.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 3.03% or 2.07 to hit $70.34 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 2.92% or 2.14 to trade at $75.34 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.86% to 1.28, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.16% to 0.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.74% at 101.77.