Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Mobile Telecommunications, Construction & Materials and Pharmaceuticals & Biotech sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.47%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD), which rose 4.64% or 10.4500 points to trade at 235.5500 at the close. Meanwhile, Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) added 2.70% or 68.00 points to end at 2590.00 and CRH PLC (LON:CRH) was up 2.60% or 57.00 points to 2252.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which fell 3.75% or 40.000 points to trade at 1027.000 at the close. Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) declined 3.56% or 11.70 points to end at 316.80 and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) was down 3.16% or 23.50 points to 720.50.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1088 to 926 and 471 ended unchanged.
Shares in CRH PLC (LON:CRH) rose to 5-year highs; rising 2.60% or 57.00 to 2252.00.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.65% or 8.65 to $1322.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.88% or 0.84 to hit $43.91 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.86% or 0.86 to trade at $45.34 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 1.10% to 1.3087, while EUR/GBP rose 0.54% to 0.8378.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.61% at 97.53.