uk stocks finished higher thursday with the ftse 100 index ukx increasing 089 at 779404 among ftse 100 constituents residential building construction company persimmon plc psn saw the largest increase thursday as shares rallied 833 shares of residential building construction firm barratt developments plc bdev and investment advisors company mg plc mng increased 669 and 624 respectively jd sports fashion plc jd  a clothing retail company and hotels business whitbread plc wtb rounded out the top five largest increases as their stocks climbed 594 and 578 respectively astrazeneca plc azn  a biotechnology company saw the largest decrease of the ftse 100 constituents as shares dropped 160 on thursday shares of precision products firm halma plc hlma and finance companies company experian plc expn shed 127 and 111 respectively 3i group plc iii  an investment advisors company and medical equipmentsupplies firm smith  nephew plc sn rounded out the top five largest decreases as their stocks dropped 105 and 103 respectively the pound was up 027 against dollar gbpusd at 12182 and was down 035 against the euro gbpeur at €11255 brent crude brn00 rose 20 to 8436 and the yield on the 10year gilt tmbmkgb10y fell 7380 basis points to 3335 editors note this story was autogenerated by automated insights an automation technology provider using data from dow jones and factset see our market data terms of use