Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Support Services, Chemicals and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Rentokil Initial PLC (LON:RTO), which rose 17.67% or 75.70 points to trade at 504.20 at the close. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) added 4.74% or 83.80 points to end at 1,851.20 and Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) was up 4.66% or 20.40 points to 458.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Entain PLC (LON:ENT), which lost 4.88% or 40.56 points to trade at 789.84 in late trade. HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) declined 3.48% or 21.30 points to end at 590.70 and Airtel Africa Plc (LON:AAF) shed 2.68% or 2.60 points to 94.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1011 to 727 and 707 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.28% or 6.15 to $2,164.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.06% or 0.05 to hit $79.08 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.12 to trade at $83.08 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.48% to 1.28, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.09% to 0.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 102.87.