On Thursday, the London Stock Exchange closed with the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 index advancing by a marginal 0.09%. This modest increase was primarily driven by gains in the Industrial Engineering, Industrial Transportation, and Mobile Telecommunications sectors, reflecting buoyant investor interest in these areas.
The top performers among individual stocks included WPP PLC (LON:WPP), which increased by 4.45%, closing at 323.90. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) experienced a notable rise of 3.16%, ending the session at 1,568.00. JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD) also posted a significant gain of 3.12%, finishing at 84.62.
Conversely, several prominent companies posted losses. Admiral Group PLC (LON:ADML) was the session’s worst performer, dropping 4.61% to close at 2,812.00. In addition, BAE Systems PLC (LON:BAES) fell 3.73%, reaching 1,985.00, while ICG PLC (LON:ICGIN) declined by 2.61% to 1,940.00.
Market breadth favored advancing issues, with 1,344 stocks rising and 468 declining. A further 493 stocks showed no change by the close.
In commodities, gold futures for February delivery surged by 0.90%, trading up 43.31 to $4,880.81 per troy ounce. Conversely, crude oil prices softened; March delivery for West Texas Intermediate decreased by 1.98% to $59.42 per barrel, and the March Brent contract dropped 1.85% to $64.03 per barrel.
Currency movements reflected a stronger British pound, with GBP/USD gaining 0.42% to 1.35. Meanwhile, the EUR/GBP pair remained virtually flat, up a marginal 0.01% to 0.87. The US Dollar Index futures declined by 0.34%, settling at 98.22.