Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Electrical and Household Goods & Home Construction sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 declined 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were DS Smith PLC (LON:SMDS), which rose 9.78% or 27.50 points to trade at 308.60 at the close. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) added 7.12% or 165.00 points to end at 2,484.00 and Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (LON:SKG) was up 5.32% or 158.00 points to 3,130.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), which lost 6.36% or 667.00 points to trade at 9,823.00 in late trade. SSE PLC (LON:SSE) declined 4.69% or 77.50 points to end at 1,575.50 and Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) shed 4.31% or 62.00 points to 1,377.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 886 to 825 and 737 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.27% or 5.45 to $2,046.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.78% or 2.05 to hit $75.91 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 2.68% or 2.12 to trade at $81.33 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 1.26, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.08% to 0.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 104.05.