Investing.com – U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Software & Computer Services and General Retailers sectors led shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.50%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which rose 5.05% or 57.00 points to trade at 1185.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) added 4.96% or 74.00 points to end at 1565.00 and Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) was up 3.83% or 6.7500 points to 182.9500 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which fell 5.32% or 60.000 points to trade at 1067.000 at the close. SKY PLC (LON:SKYB) declined 3.61% or 32.50 points to end at 867.00 and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LON:ICAG) was down 3.59% or 15.10 points to 405.60.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1059 to 1031 and 428 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) rose to 52-week highs; up 5.05% or 57.00 to 1185.00.
Gold for August delivery was up 0.73% or 9.65 to $1328.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.75% or 0.80 to hit $44.95 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.53% or 0.72 to trade at $46.45 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.11% to 1.3220, while EUR/GBP fell 0.13% to 0.8327.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 97.05.