LONDON: U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology and Construction & Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.59%.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Astrazeneca Plc (LONDON:AZN), which rose 4.05% or 174.50 points to trade at 4479.00 at the close. Meanwhile, CRH (LONDON:CRH) added 3.73% or 65.00 points to end at 1807.00 and Shire Plc (LONDON:SHP) was up 2.73% or 145.00 points to 5455.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Standard Chartered (LONDON:STAN), which fell 4.44% or 45.50 points to trade at 979.00 at the close. Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW) declined 3.26% or 10.40 points to end at 308.20 and Royal Mail (LONDON:RMG) was down 2.70% or 11.80 points to 425.80.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1282 to 759 and 380 ended unchanged.
Shares in Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW) fell to 5-year lows; down 3.26% or 10.40 to 308.20. Shares in Shire Plc (LONDON:SHP) rose to all time highs; up 2.73% or 145.00 to 5455.00.
Gold for April delivery was up 0.07% or 0.80 to $1151.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 1.06% or 0.51 to hit $47.66 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.65% or 0.38 to trade at $57.16 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.38% to 1.4871, while EUR/GBP rose 0.93% to 0.7132.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 99.36.
