Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas Producers, Beverages and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 1.73%.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS), which rose 6.36% or 315.00 points to trade at 5265.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Experian Plc (LONDON:EXPN) added 5.26% or 56.00 points to end at 1121.00 and Morrison(Wm.)Supermarkets (LONDON:MRW) was up 5.03% or 9.00 points to 188.10 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Kingfisher (LONDON:KGF), which fell 3.22% or 10.60 points to trade at 318.60 at the close. Imperial Tobacco Group (LONDON:IMT) declined 2.80% or 82.00 points to end at 2850.00 and Dixons Carphone (LONDON:DC) was down 2.16% or 9.60 points to 434.40.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1212 to 866 and 392 ended unchanged.
Shares in Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 6.36% or 315.00 to 5265.00.
Gold for February delivery was up 2.28% or 28.20 to $1262.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in February fell 1.63% or 0.79 to hit $47.69 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract fell 0.91% or 0.46 to trade at $49.41 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.50% to 1.5157, while EUR/GBP fell 1.12% to 0.7652.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.56% at 92.82.