Investing.com – U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Electrical and Automobiles & Parts sectors led shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 declined 0.08%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Diageo PLC (LON:DGE), which rose 5.99% or 136.00 points to trade at 2408.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Next PLC (LON:NXT) added 3.89% or 147.00 points to end at 3927.00 and Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN) was up 3.31% or 43.00 points to 1344.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), which fell 15.41% or 788.00 points to trade at 4325.00 at the close. SSE PLC (LON:SSE) declined 5.48% or 80.00 points to end at 1380.00 and Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP) was down 5.14% or 14.30 points to 263.90.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1122 to 840 and 445 ended unchanged.
Shares in Diageo PLC (LON:DGE) rose to all time highs; gaining 5.99% or 136.00 to 2408.50. Shares in SSE PLC (LON:SSE) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.48% or 80.00 to 1380.00.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.63% or 7.92 to $1257.32 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.64% or 0.31 to hit $49.06 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.49 to trade at $51.46 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.43% to 1.3060, while EUR/GBP fell 0.23% to 0.8924.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.66% at 93.91.