Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Transportation, Food Producers and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 added 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Royal Mail (LONDON:RMG), which rose 5.29% or 23.50 points to trade at 467.70 at the close. Sports Direct Intl Plc (LONDON:SPD) added 2.40% or 14.50 points to end at 619.00 and Weir Group (LONDON:WEIR) was up 2.40% or 44.00 points to 1880.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Centrica Plc (LONDON:CNA), which lost 4.56% or 12.20 points to trade at 255.40 in late trade. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LONDON:RBS) declined 3.15% or 11.00 points to end at 338.50 and Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) shed 2.94% or 33.50 points to 1105.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1366 to 1296 and 407 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 2.54% or 30.70 to $1179.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.13% or 0.66 to hit $59.24 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.06% or 0.69 to trade at $66.53 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.65% to 1.5338, while EUR/GBP rose 1.02% to 0.7282.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% at 95.28.