Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Software & Computer Services and Forestry & Paper sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 2.49%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO), which rose 8.86% or 89.00 points to trade at 1094.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Shire PLC (LON:SHP) added 5.28% or 187.65 points to end at 3743.29 and Royal Dutch Shell PLC B (LON:RDSb) was up 4.35% or 98.68 points to 2316.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD), which fell 6.32% or 23.50 points to trade at 348.10 at the close. Aviva PLC (LON:AV) declined 2.93% or 14.70 points to end at 487.70 and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) was down 2.63% or 32.00 points to 1185.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1458 to 531 and 138 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.85% or 11.40 to $1328.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.57% or 0.36 to hit $63.73 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.45 to trade at $68.47 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.58% to 1.3999, while EUR/GBP rose 0.23% to 0.8741.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.43% at 90.17.