Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Beverage and Food Producers sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 1.00% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 6.95% or 114.50 points to trade at 1762.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 3.95% or 31.60 points to end at 832.20 and Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RB) was up 3.86% or 243.00 points to 6538.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL), which fell 5.48% or 20.20 points to trade at 348.70 at the close. Hammerson PLC (LON:HMSO) declined 5.24% or 19.30 points to end at 349.10 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) was down 3.34% or 8.60 points to 248.90.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1080 to 988 and 323 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.32% or 4.15 to $1305.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.51% or 0.31 to hit $59.92 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.48 to trade at $68.02 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.10% to 1.3051, while EUR/GBP rose 0.58% to 0.8697.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.87% at 96.032.