Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Banking, Oil & Gas Producers and Media sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), which rose 4.79% or 8.70 points to trade at 190.50 at the close. Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) added 2.90% or 1.62 points to end at 57.50 and ITV PLC (LON:ITV) was up 2.81% or 4.70 points to 172.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV), which lost 5.31% or 24.600 points to trade at 438.900 in late trade. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) declined 3.40% or 162.50 points to end at 4614.50 and Wolseley PLC (LON:WOS) shed 3.29% or 143.00 points to 4210.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1212 to 1030 and 489 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.21% or 2.65 to $1269.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.59% or 0.78 to hit $49.96 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.66% or 0.83 to trade at $50.81 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.60% to 1.2171, while EUR/GBP rose 0.49% to 0.8951.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.34% at 98.93.