Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Construction & Materials, Oil Equipment Services & Distribution and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 0.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO), which rose 3.76% or 53.00 points to trade at 1463.50 at the close. Paddy Power Betfair PLC (LON:PPB) added 3.52% or 245.00 points to end at 7205.00 and Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) was up 2.88% or 109.50 points to 3910.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), which lost 3.26% or 7.30 points to trade at 216.90 in late trade. Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) declined 2.89% or 9.40 points to end at 316.00 and Travis Perkins PLC (LON:TPK) shed 2.71% or 28.00 points to 1004.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1170 to 862 and 325 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.88% or 22.60 to $1221.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.60% or 0.34 to hit $56.80 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.41 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.56% to 1.2845, while EUR/GBP rose 0.12% to 0.8881.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.48% at 96.33.