Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Life Insurance/Assurance, Banking and Financial Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.32% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV), which rose 5.64% or 35.20 points to trade at 659.20 at the close. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) added 5.51% or 10.90 points to end at 208.80 and Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) was up 5.33% or 7.92 points to 156.62 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH), which lost 4.06% or 110.0 points to trade at 2598.0 in late trade. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) declined 3.35% or 103.00 points to end at 2970.00 and Diageo PLC (LON:DGE) shed 2.99% or 101.00 points to 3280.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1345 to 775 and 201 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.55% or 8.25 to $1499.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $55.09 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $60.42 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 1.10% to 1.2468, while EUR/GBP fell 0.92% to 0.8883.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 98.215.