Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Construction & Materials, Healthcare Equipment & Services and Technology Hardware & Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 2.86% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Royal Mail PLC (LONDON:RMG), which rose 1.59% or 7.50 points to trade at 478.20 at the close. Randgold Resources Ltd (LONDON:RRS) fell 0.31% or 13.00 points to end at 4242.00 and Fresnillo PLC (LONDON:FRES) was down 0.44% or 3.00 points to 681.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Shire PLC (LONDON:SHP), which lost 5.28% or 268.00 points to trade at 4807.00 in late trade. CRH PLC (LONDON:CRH) declined 4.70% or 89.00 points to end at 1806.00 and EasyJet PLC (LONDON:EZJ) shed 4.58% or 78.00 points to 1624.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2350 to 316 and 381 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.49% or 5.60 to $1158.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2.40% or 0.99 to hit $40.33 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 2.43% or 1.14 to trade at $45.48 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.10% to 1.5705, while EUR/GBP rose 0.96% to 0.7233.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.83% at 94.97.