U.K. stocks ended Thursday's session in positive territory, driven by advances in Financial Services, Oil & Gas Producers and Industrial Metals & Mining. The Investing.com United Kingdom 100 closed up 0.12% in London.
The leading gainers on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 included 3I Group PLC (LON:III), which climbed 8.77% or 276.00 points to finish at 3,423.00. Shell PLC (LON:SHEL) added 2.38% or 65.00 points to close at 2,797.50, and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) rose 2.10% or 78.00 points to trade at 3,786.00 in late dealing.
On the downside, Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) led declines after falling 5.38% or 275.10 points to end at 4,836.90. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) dropped 5.25% or 216.00 points to close at 3,900.00, and Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) fell 4.06% or 40.40 points to finish at 955.00.
Market breadth on the London Stock Exchange showed more decliners than advancers, with 991 stocks falling compared with 825 rising, and 499 finishing unchanged.
Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) reached an all-time high during the session, gaining 2.10% or 78.00 to 3,786.00.
Commodity movements were mixed in overnight trading. Gold Futures for April delivery slipped 0.25% or 13.11 to $5,327.09 a troy ounce. In oil markets, crude oil for March delivery climbed 2.99% or 1.89 to $65.10 a barrel, while the April Brent contract rose 2.69% or 1.81 to $69.18 a barrel.
Currency pairs were largely stable: GBP/USD was effectively unchanged, moving 0.02% to 1.38, and EUR/GBP was unchanged by 0.01% at 0.87. The US Dollar Index Futures declined 0.16% to 96.12.
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