Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Tobacco, Mobile Telecommunications and Financial Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.80% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LONDON:RBS), which rose 1.48% or 5.20 points to trade at 357.00 at the close. Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) added 1.04% or 10.50 points to end at 1015.50 and Weir Group (LONDON:WEIR) was up 0.83% or 16.00 points to 1935.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Marks & Spencer Group (LONDON:MKS), which lost 3.20% or 18.50 points to trade at 560.00 in late trade. Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LONDON:HIK) declined 2.82% or 58.00 points to end at 1998.00 and WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LONDON:MRW) shed 2.64% or 4.70 points to 173.60.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1834 to 747 and 445 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.63% or 7.40 to $1167.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.10% or 0.06 to hit $57.94 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.17% or 0.10 to trade at $61.92 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.63% to 1.5268, while EUR/GBP fell 0.51% to 0.7276.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.02% at 96.47.