Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Life Insurance/Assurance and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 2.25% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Carnival PLC (LON:CCL), which rose 19.84% or 237.0 points to trade at 1431.5 at the close. Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON) added 15.11% or 19.55 points to end at 148.95 and International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (LON:ICAG) was up 13.64% or 39.30 points to 327.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), which lost 5.21% or 39.40 points to trade at 717.40 in late trade. National Grid PLC (LON:NG) declined 2.67% or 25.20 points to end at 918.60 and Auto Trader Group Plc (LON:AUTOA) shed 2.65% or 15.00 points to 551.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1637 to 597 and 149 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 2.54% or 43.90 to $1683.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 5.13% or 1.92 to hit $39.33 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 5.45% or 2.18 to trade at $42.17 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.62% to 1.2672, while EUR/GBP fell 1.00% to 0.8909.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 96.963.