Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Food Producers, Construction & Materials and Household Goods & Home Construction sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.53% to hit a new 3-month high.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Associated British Foods (LONDON:ABF), which rose 3.18% or 95.00 points to trade at 3080.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (LONDON:RB) added 2.96% or 160.00 points to end at 5560.00 and CRH (LONDON:CRH) was up 2.50% or 41.00 points to 1680.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Glencore Xstrata Plc (LONDON:GLEN), which fell 5.82% or 15.40 points to trade at 249.40 at the close. Antofagasta (LONDON:ANTO) declined 4.80% or 34.50 points to end at 684.50 and Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW) was down 4.38% or 17.00 points to 371.30.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1308 to 807 and 368 ended unchanged.
Shares in Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (LONDON:RB) rose to all time highs; rising 2.96% or 160.00 to 5560.00.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.81% or 10.60 to $1290.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 0.80% or 0.37 to hit $45.94 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 1.04% or 0.51 to trade at $49.02 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.08% to 1.5022, while EUR/GBP fell 0.89% to 0.7503.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.27% at 94.92.