Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Chemicals sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 lost 1.31% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Kingfisher (LONDON:KGF), which rose 2.66% or 9.80 points to trade at 377.90 at the close. British Land Co Plc (LONDON:BLND) added 0.84% or 7.00 points to end at 836.00 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LONDON:RBS) was up 0.66% or 2.30 points to 351.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson Matthey (LONDON:JMAT), which lost 5.26% or 185.00 points to trade at 3331.00 in late trade. National Grid (LONDON:NG) declined 5.08% or 46.50 points to end at 869.00 and Royal Mail (LONDON:RMG) shed 4.94% or 26.00 points to 500.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1882 to 705 and 430 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.86% or 10.20 to $1174.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.52% or 1.50 to hit $58.14 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 2.56% or 1.64 to trade at $62.16 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.11% to 1.5357, while EUR/GBP fell 0.18% to 0.7336.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.05% at 95.39.