Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Chemicals, Oil Equipment Services & Distribution and Electronic & Electrical Equipment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS), which rose 6.14% or 179.50 points to trade at 3104.50 at the close. EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) added 4.01% or 41.50 points to end at 1076.00 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) was up 2.19% or 46.00 points to 2142.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), which lost 9.12% or 81.60 points to trade at 813.40 in late trade. Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT) declined 4.93% or 158.00 points to end at 3046.00 and Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) shed 3.40% or 77.00 points to 2189.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1411 to 743 and 204 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.32% or 4.55 to $1427.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.78% or 1.58 to hit $55.20 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 2.80% or 1.78 to trade at $61.88 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.38% to 1.2478, while EUR/GBP fell 0.34% to 0.8995.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 96.830.