Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Forestry & Paper, Chemicals and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 1.15% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which rose 3.61% or 6.80 points to trade at 195.20 at the close. Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD) added 2.71% or 10.00 points to end at 378.50 and Admiral Group PLC (LON:ADML) was up 1.81% or 33.00 points to 1852.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT), which lost 4.34% or 141.00 points to trade at 3110.00 in late trade. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) declined 3.30% or 29.40 points to end at 862.00 and Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) shed 3.26% or 22.20 points to 658.80.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1448 to 569 and 127 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.05% or 0.60 to $1319.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 3.07% or 1.88 to hit $59.27 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 2.87% or 1.86 to trade at $62.95 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.93% to 1.3782, while EUR/GBP rose 0.70% to 0.8864.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 90.39.