Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Mining and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO), which rose 5.63% or 190.500 points to trade at 3572.500 at the close. Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) added 4.65% or 38.50 points to end at 866.00 and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) was up 4.40% or 57.00 points to 1352.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RB), which lost 2.96% or 214.00 points to trade at 7025.00 in late trade. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) declined 1.80% or 4.200 points to end at 228.900 and Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN) shed 1.00% or 12.00 points to 1186.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1144 to 790 and 428 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.13% or 1.65 to $1235.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.02% or 1.07 to hit $54.07 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 2.14% or 1.19 to trade at $56.82 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.02% to 1.2496, while EUR/GBP fell 0.08% to 0.8518.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 100.67.