– U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech , Industrial Engineering and Media sectors led shares higher.

At the close in London, the United Kingdom 100 rose 1.38%.

The best performers of the session on the United Kingdom 100 were Diploma PLC (LON: DPLM ), which rose 5.78% or 244.00 points to trade at 4,466.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC (LON: SPX ) added 4.30% or 280.00 points to end at 6,790.00 and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON: HIK ) was up 4.17% or 78.00 points to 1,950.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were NatWest Group PLC (LON: NWG ), which fell 2.45% or 9.80 points to trade at 390.70 at the close. JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON: JD ) declined 2.08% or 1.98 points to end at 93.46 and Barclays PLC (LON: BARC ) was down 2.08% or 5.45 points to 257.20.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1200 to 556 and 692 ended unchanged.

Shares in JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON: JD ) fell to 52-week lows; losing 2.08% or 1.98 to 93.46.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.21% or 32.35 to $2,707.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.20% or 0.84 to hit $70.94 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.71 to trade at $74.94 a barrel.

GBP/USD was down 0.52% to 1.25, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.14% to 0.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.61% at 107.59.