Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Forestry & Paper, Construction & Materials and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 4.30% or 66.50 points to trade at 1614.50 at the close. British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) added 2.54% or 98.00 points to end at 3960.00 and Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) was up 1.81% or 9.40 points to 528.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Provident Financial PLC (LON:PFG), which lost 1.69% or 10.60 points to trade at 615.20 in late trade. EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) declined 1.64% or 27.00 points to end at 1615.00 and Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) shed 1.61% or 5.10 points to 311.65.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 972 to 910 and 382 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.42% or 5.20 to $1229.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.28% or 0.19 to hit $68.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.11 to trade at $72.69 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.76% to 1.3113, while EUR/GBP fell 0.20% to 0.8928.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.64% at 94.37.