U.K. stocks higher at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 up 0.77%

Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gas, Water & Multiutilities, Aerospace & Defense and Healthcare Equipment & Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.77% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 7.37% or 143.00 points to trade at 2,084.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG) added 3.82% or 97.00 points to end at 2,637.00 and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) was up 3.52% or 34.50 points to 1,016.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were 3I Group PLC (LON:III), which fell 4.22% or 177.00 points to trade at 4,020.00 at the close. Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) declined 3.83% or 49.00 points to end at 1,230.50 and BP PLC (LON:BP) was down 3.35% or 12.75 points to 368.25.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 923 to 809 and 615 ended unchanged.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 1.01% or 32.14 to $3,220.44 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 2.34% or 1.48 to hit $61.67 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 2.32% or 1.53 to trade at $64.56 a barrel.

GBP/USD was unchanged 0.20% to 1.33, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.14% to 0.84.

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The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 100.73.

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