Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, General Industrial and Industrial Engineering sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.98%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN), which rose 5.13% or 80.00 points to trade at 1638.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) added 4.36% or 53.50 points to end at 1281.50 and Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) was up 4.22% or 90.00 points to 2223.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO), which fell 32.40% or 504.00 points to trade at 1051.40 at the close. NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC) declined 1.81% or 43.00 points to end at 2328.00 and St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP) was down 1.76% or 16.40 points to 914.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1349 to 741 and 220 ended unchanged.
Shares in Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) fell to 52-week lows; falling 32.40% or 504.00 to 1051.40. Shares in St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP) fell to 52-week lows; down 1.76% or 16.40 to 914.00.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.80% or 12.35 to $1536.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.31% or 0.73 to hit $56.51 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.34 to trade at $60.27 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.23% to 1.2181, while EUR/GBP fell 0.01% to 0.9070.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 98.463.