LONDON: U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Construction & Materials and Banking sectors led shares lower. At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.11%. The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP), which rose 6.75% or 18.60 points to trade at 294.00 at the close. Meanwhile, RSA Insurance Group PLC (LON:RSA) added 4.85% or 28.000 points to end at 605.000 and Mondi PLC (LON:MNDI) was up 2.78% or 51.00 points to 1888.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), which fell 6.11% or 59.500 points to trade at 914.500 at the close. Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) declined 5.27% or 190.000 points to end at 3418.000 and HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) was down 3.96% or 26.900 points to 652.800. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1042 to 834 and 484 ended unchanged. Shares in RSA Insurance Group PLC (LON:RSA) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 4.85% or 28.000 to 605.000. Shares in Mondi PLC (LON:MNDI) rose to all time highs; rising 2.78% or 51.00 to 1888.00.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.39% or 17.15 to $1250.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.57% or 0.84 to hit $54.43 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.27% or 0.71 to trade at $56.55 a barrel. GBP/USD was up 0.78% to 1.2555, while EUR/GBP fell 0.55% to 0.8433. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.38% at 100.92.