Investing.com – U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Life Insurance/Assurance, Banking and Aerospace & Defense sectors led shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 declined 0.55% to hit a new 52-week low.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 7.67% or 355.00 points to trade at 4984.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) added 4.85% or 44.20 points to end at 956.00 and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) was up 4.18% or 48.50 points to 1208.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN), which fell 4.39% or 67.50 points to trade at 1468.50 at the close. Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) declined 3.20% or 7.90 points to end at 239.00 and Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK) was down 2.45% or 118.00 points to 4707.00.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1329 to 670 and 135 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.54% or 20.50 to $1347.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.70% or 1.09 to hit $65.39 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 1.01 to trade at $69.92 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.35% to 1.4146, while EUR/GBP rose 0.11% to 0.8737.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 89.09.