Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Engineering, Oil & Gas Producers and Industrial Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.27% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Shire PLC (LON:SHP), which rose 5.89% or 221.00 points to trade at 3975.00 at the close. Meanwhile, WPP PLC (LON:WPP) added 3.58% or 40.00 points to end at 1156.00 and Ferguson PLC (LON:FERG) was up 2.62% or 142.00 points to 5558.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS), which fell 5.43% or 209.50 points to trade at 3650.00 at the close. Standard Life Aberdeen PLC (LON:SLA) declined 3.62% or 13.80 points to end at 367.00 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) was down 2.89% or 70.00 points to 2355.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1129 to 771 and 169 ended unchanged.
Shares in British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) fell to 52-week lows; losing 5.43% or 209.50 to 3650.00.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.48% or 6.50 to $1347.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.64% or 0.44 to hit $68.91 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.13% or 0.83 to trade at $74.31 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.05% to 1.4195, while EUR/GBP fell 0.23% to 0.8693.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 89.56.