LONDON: U.K. stocks closed higher on Monday, as increases in the Forestry & Paper, Oil Equipment Services & Distribution and Oil & Gas Producers sectors led shares rally.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.29% to hit a new 3-month high.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were BG Group (LONDON:BG), which rose 2.90% or 25.90 points to trade at 917.60 at the close. Meanwhile, Mondi Plc (LONDON:MNDI) added 2.44% or 28.00 points to end at 1178.00 and International Airlines Group (LONDON:ICAG) was up 2.42% or 13.00 points to 549.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Coca Cola HBC AG (LONDON:CCH), which fell 3.24% or 36.0 points to trade at 1076.0 at the close. Tesco (LONDON:TSCO) declined 2.25% or 5.30 points to end at 230.00 and Babcock International Group (LONDON:BAB) was down 1.80% or 19.00 points to 1034.00.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1167 to 898 and 375 ended unchanged.
Shares in Mondi Plc (LONDON:MNDI) rose to all time highs; up 2.44% or 28.00 to 1178.00. Shares in International Airlines Group (LONDON:ICAG) rose to all time highs; rising 2.42% or 13.00 to 549.00.
Gold for April delivery was down 1.00% or 12.90 to $1280.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 1.21% or 0.55 to hit $46.14 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.14 to trade at $48.94 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.55% to 1.5074, while EUR/GBP rose 0.19% to 0.7485.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 95.03.
