U.K. shares higher at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 up 0.71% 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 gained 0.71%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the were Pearson PLC (LON:), which rose 5.09% or 48.87 points to trade at 1,009.47 at the close. Endeavour Mining PLC (LON:) added 3.84% or 49.00 points to end at 1,324.00 and Anglo American PLC (LON:) was up 3.52% or 59.80 points to 1,760.80 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Ocado Group PLC (LON:), which lost 6.92% or 35.40 points to trade at 476.00 in late trade. Whitbread PLC (LON:) declined 1.97% or 65.00 points to end at 3,238.00 and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:) shed 1.70% or 33.50 points to 1,933.50.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1154 to 612 and 685 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.79% or 36.75 to $2,091.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 3.08% or 2.41 to hit $80.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.78% or 2.28 to trade at $84.19 a barrel.

GBP/USD was unchanged 0.23% to 1.27, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.04% to 0.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 103.87.