Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Industrial Metals & Mining and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 3.60% to hit a new 3-year low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were MMC Noril Nick (LON:NKELyq), which rose 3.98% or 1.24 points to trade at 32.39 at the close. International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (LON:ICAG) added 2.01% or 8.50 points to end at 431.60 and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) was up 0.17% or 1.00 points to 588.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Surgutneftegaz L (LON:SNGSyq), which lost 9.42% or 0.54 points to trade at 5.14 in late trade. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) declined 8.70% or 160.2 points to end at 1681.2 and Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) shed 7.84% or 120.00 points to 1410.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1952 to 274 and 106 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.05% or 0.80 to $1667.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 8.24% or 3.78 to hit $42.12 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 7.60% or 3.80 to trade at $46.19 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.37% to 1.3001, while EUR/GBP rose 0.36% to 0.8697.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.80% at 96.017.