London's equity market closed in positive territory on Tuesday, with gains concentrated in the Banking, Electrical and Gas, and Water & Multiutilities sectors supporting the advance.
At the close of trading, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 was up 0.51%.
The session's strongest individual contributors on the index included HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA), which climbed 2.82% -- an increase of 35.00 points -- to finish at 1,277.20. Vistry Group PLC (LON:VTYV) added 2.71%, or 17.60 points, closing at 666.60. NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG) rose 2.65%, gaining 17.20 points to end the day at 667.60.
By contrast, several stocks fell sharply. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) declined 6.92%, or 308.00 points, to close at 4,140.00. Relx PLC (LON:REL) dropped 5.13%, losing 147.00 points to finish at 2,720.00, while Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) slid 5.12%, or 53.40 points, to end the session at 989.60.
Breadth on the London Stock Exchange was tilted toward advancers, with 972 stocks higher compared with 796 decliners, and 534 issues unchanged at the close.
There were a number of notable milestone moves among large caps. HSBC's shares reached an all-time high, advancing 2.82% to 1,277.20. Relx's shares moved to 52-week lows after falling 5.13% to 2,720.00. NatWest's stock climbed to a five-year high, up 2.65% to 667.60.
Commodity and currency markets showed mixed performance during the session. Gold futures for April delivery were marginally lower, down 0.02% or 0.86 to $5,121.44 a troy ounce. In energy markets, crude oil for March delivery gained 2.24% or 1.36 to trade at $61.99 a barrel, while the April Brent contract increased 2.02% or 1.31 to $66.08 a barrel.
On the FX front, GBP/USD was higher by 0.66% at 1.38, while EUR/GBP was effectively unchanged, moving 0.09% to 0.87. The US Dollar Index futures declined 0.77% to 96.11.
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