Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Tobacco, Fixed Line Telecommunications and Oil & Gas Producers sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.80% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which rose 3.07% or 51.00 points to trade at 1710.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Provident Financial (LON:PFG) added 3.06% or 71.00 points to end at 2390.00 and Next PLC (LON:NXT) was up 2.80% or 103.00 points to 3783.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which fell 5.92% or 84.00 points to trade at 1334.00 at the close. International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (LON:ICAG) declined 3.88% or 24.00 points to end at 595.00 and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) was down 2.87% or 32.50 points to 1100.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1020 to 878 and 441 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.32% or 4.01 to $1246.01 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.57% or 0.27 to hit $47.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.22 to trade at $49.48 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.45% to 1.2965, while EUR/GBP rose 1.49% to 0.8973.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 94.05.