Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Electronic & Electrical Equipment, Tobacco and Electrical sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 declined 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN), which rose 4.15% or 51.50 points to trade at 1293.50 at the close. Bunzl PLC (LON:BNZL) added 3.50% or 68.00 points to end at 2009.00 and Next PLC (LON:NXT) was up 3.09% or 152.00 points to 5064.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which lost 3.82% or 39.50 points to trade at 995.00 in late trade. Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) declined 2.29% or 17.60 points to end at 750.60 and British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) shed 2.13% or 106.00 points to 4870.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1157 to 838 and 123 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.29% or 4.00 to $1360.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.81% or 0.53 to hit $66.14 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.52 to trade at $71.05 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.20% to 1.4269, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.8750.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.52% at 88.56.