Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Insurance, Automobiles & Parts and Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 1.72%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP), which rose 1.46% or 4.30 points to trade at 299.80 at the close. Aviva PLC (LON:AV) added 1.35% or 6.200 points to end at 465.800 and Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS) was up 1.11% or 70.00 points to 6360.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which lost 7.92% or 67.50 points to trade at 785.00 in late trade. Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD) declined 7.12% or 27.50 points to end at 358.60 and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) shed 5.19% or 27.50 points to 502.80.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1455 to 711 and 385 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.96% or 12.10 to $1269.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.83% or 0.70 to hit $37.59 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.53% or 1.04 to trade at $40.03 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.67% to 1.4312, while EUR/GBP rose 0.75% to 0.7810.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.04% at 96.18.