Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Banking, Construction & Materials and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), which rose 3.60% or 94.00 points to trade at 2709.00 at the close. Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) added 3.12% or 23.00 points to end at 759.50 and Micro Focus International (LON:MCRO) was up 2.42% or 60.00 points to 2536.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Standard Life PLC (LON:SL), which lost 2.36% or 8.90 points to trade at 368.70 in late trade. HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) declined 1.74% or 11.40 points to end at 643.90 and Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) shed 1.65% or 11.90 points to 709.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 912 to 889 and 500 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.72% or 9.15 to $1287.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.28% or 0.15 to hit $52.96 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.24 to trade at $55.62 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.14% to 1.2521, while EUR/GBP fell 0.20% to 0.8490.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.30% at 100.36.