Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Mining, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Food & Drug Retailers sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 declined 1.50% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LONDON:HIK), which rose 2.49% or 47.00 points to trade at 1933.00 at the close. Meggitt PLC (LONDON:MGGT) added 0.73% or 3.40 points to end at 466.40 and Inmarsat (LONDON:ISA) was up 0.49% or 4.50 points to 915.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BHP Billiton PLC (LONDON:BLT), which lost 4.03% or 52.50 points to trade at 1249.00 in late trade. United Utilities Group Plc (LONDON:UU) declined 3.62% or 33.50 points to end at 892.00 and J Sainsbury PLC (LONDON:SBRY) shed 3.25% or 8.90 points to 265.30.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1656 to 944 and 405 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.14% or 1.60 to $1177.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.13% or 0.66 to hit $58.99 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.83% or 1.14 to trade at $63.15 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.09% to 1.5722, while EUR/GBP fell 0.65% to 0.7094.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.55% at 95.61.