Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Software & Computer Services, Forestry & Paper and Electrical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 6.46% or 62.00 points to trade at 1021.00 at the close. Shire PLC (LON:SHP) added 6.05% or 213.50 points to end at 3744.00 and Paddy Power Betfair PLC (LON:PPB) was up 4.81% or 405.00 points to 8820.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included GKN PLC (LON:GKN), which lost 4.76% or 14.80 points to trade at 296.00 in late trade. Royal Dutch Shell PLC Class A (LON:RDSa) declined 2.94% or 70.50 points to end at 2331.00 and Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) shed 2.69% or 16.00 points to 578.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1233 to 736 and 434 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.23% or 2.99 to $1280.69 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.36% or 0.20 to hit $55.13 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.71% or 0.44 to trade at $61.43 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.11% to 1.3187, while EUR/GBP fell 0.27% to 0.8928.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 93.78.