Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Forestry & Paper, Beverage and Industrial Transportation sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Shire PLC (LON:SHP), which rose 3.72% or 166.00 points to trade at 4626.00 at the close. Provident Financial (LON:PFG) added 3.64% or 86.00 points to end at 2447.00 and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LON:GSK) was up 2.32% or 39.0 points to 1722.0 in late trade.
Biggest losers included United Utilities Group PLC (LON:UU), which lost 4.21% or 39.50 points to trade at 898.50 in late trade. WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) declined 2.71% or 6.70 points to end at 241.00 and Tui AG (LON:TUIT) shed 2.17% or 25.00 points to 1126.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1096 to 829 and 439 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.54% or 6.74 to $1252.54 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.39% or 0.59 to hit $43.12 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.65% or 0.74 to trade at $45.56 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.03% to 1.2667, while EUR/GBP fell 0.12% to 0.8802.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 97.28.