Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, Life Insurance/Assurance and Insurance sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 1.71%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Aviva PLC (LON:AV), which rose 6.36% or 29.600 points to trade at 495.400 at the close. Meanwhile, St. James`s Place PLC (LON:SJP) added 4.75% or 40.50 points to end at 894.00 and Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV) was up 4.43% or 54.00 points to 1273.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS), which fell 2.12% or 8.60 points to trade at 398.10 at the close. Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) declined 1.78% or 3.30 points to end at 182.00 and Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS) was down 0.55% or 35.00 points to 6325.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1641 to 473 and 438 ended unchanged.
Shares in Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) fell to 52-week lows; falling 2.12% or 8.60 to 398.10.
Gold for April delivery was down 1.01% or 12.90 to $1259.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.11% or 0.80 to hit $38.64 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.33 to trade at $40.38 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.91% to 1.4411, while EUR/GBP fell 0.95% to 0.7753.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.14% at 96.06.