Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Healthcare Equipment & Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 1.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON), which rose 4.19% or 6.60 points to trade at 164.30 at the close. Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) added 1.22% or 1.52 points to end at 126.00 and Severn Trent PLC (LON:SVT) was up 0.49% or 14.00 points to 2,902.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Carnival PLC (LON:CCL), which lost 9.18% or 88.40 points to trade at 874.60 in late trade. J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) declined 5.85% or 13.00 points to end at 209.40 and WPP PLC (LON:WPP) shed 4.49% or 41.00 points to 871.80.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1334 to 525 and 435 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.20% or 3.80 to $1,852.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.29% or 0.36 to hit $121.75 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.18% or 0.22 to trade at $123.36 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.20% to 1.25, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.40% to 0.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.49% at 103.05.