Investing.com – U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Oil & Gas Producers and Industrial Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.22%.
The best performers of the session on the FTSE 100 were easyJet Plc (LONDON:EZJ), which rose 6.17% or 109.00 points to trade at 1876.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Hargreaves Lansdown Plc (LONDON:HRGV) added 3.82% or 38.00 points to end at 1033.00 and Diageo (LONDON:DGE) was up 3.08% or 60.50 points to 2022.50 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Fresnillo Plc (LONDON:FRES), which fell 5.22% or 47.50 points to trade at 862.50 at the close. Royal Dutch Shell B (LONDON:RDSb) declined 4.89% or 110.00 points to end at 2138.00 and Royal Dutch Shell A (LONDON:RDSa) was down 4.34% or 93.50 points to 2060.00.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1203 to 826 and 405 ended unchanged.
Shares in easyJet Plc (LONDON:EZJ) rose to 5-year highs; rising 6.17% or 109.00 to 1876.00. Shares in Diageo (LONDON:DGE) rose to 52-week highs; up 3.08% or 60.50 to 2022.50.
Gold for April delivery was down 2.43% or 31.30 to $1255.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 1.28% or 0.57 to hit $43.88 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.07 to trade at $48.55 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.63% to 1.5043, while EUR/GBP rose 0.63% to 0.7503.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.33% at 95.20.