Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Forestry & Paper, Construction & Materials and Industrial Transportation sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.15%.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Coca Cola HBC AG (LONDON:CCH), which rose 6.23% or 68.0 points to trade at 1159.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Intertek Group (LONDON:ITRK) added 4.90% or 120.00 points to end at 2568.00 and Shire Plc (LONDON:SHP) was up 4.63% or 221.00 points to 4997.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were BT Group (LONDON:BT), which fell 2.17% or 10.00 points to trade at 450.00 at the close. Glaxosmithkline (LONDON:GSK) declined 1.88% or 28.50 points to end at 1485.50 and Royal Dutch Shell B (LONDON:RDSb) was down 1.83% or 41.00 points to 2203.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1311 to 699 and 407 ended unchanged.
Gold for April delivery was up 0.30% or 3.70 to $1223.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 3.62% or 1.77 to hit $50.61 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract rose 4.75% or 2.65 to trade at $58.58 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.96% to 1.5381, while EUR/GBP fell 0.28% to 0.7417.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.04% at 94.17.