U.K. shares higher at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 up 0.80% By Investing.com

Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the , and sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in London, the rose 0.80% to hit a new all time high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the were NatWest Group PLC (LON:), which rose 6.07% or 17.60 points to trade at 307.40 at the close. Ashtead Group PLC (LON:) added 5.97% or 344.00 points to end at 6,104.00 and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:) was up 3.80% or 15.40 points to 421.10 in late trade.

Biggest losers included ConvaTec Group PLC (LON:), which lost 6.46% or 17.80 points to trade at 257.80 in late trade. Beazley PLC (LON:) declined 3.11% or 20.50 points to end at 638.00 and Entain PLC (LON:) shed 3.09% or 25.00 points to 784.20.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1203 to 531 and 689 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.22% or 5.25 to $2,347.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.59% or 0.49 to hit $84.06 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.59 to trade at $89.60 a barrel.

GBP/USD was unchanged 0.31% to 1.25, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.09% to 0.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.50% at 105.98.