Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Life Insurance/Assurance, Banking and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.55% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 7.67% or 355.00 points to trade at 4984.00 at the close. Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) added 4.85% or 44.20 points to end at 956.00 and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) was up 4.18% or 48.50 points to 1208.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN), which lost 4.39% or 67.50 points to trade at 1468.50 in late trade. Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) declined 3.20% or 7.90 points to end at 239.00 and Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK) shed 2.45% or 118.00 points to 4707.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1329 to 670 and 135 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.54% or 20.50 to $1347.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.68% or 1.08 to hit $65.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.45% or 1.00 to trade at $69.91 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.35% to 1.4146, while EUR/GBP rose 0.11% to 0.8737.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 89.09.