UK Equities Fall Amid Sector Losses

UK equities closed lower on Friday, driven by losses in the Financials, Consumer Goods, and Industrials sectors.

The FTSE 100 index fell 1.27% to close at the end of the trading day in London.

Top Performers

The best performers of the day included:

• National Grid (LON:NG.), which rose 1.27% or 13.00 points to 1,036.00 at the close.
• Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR.), which rose 0.23% or 1.20 points to 526.20.
• Phoenix Group Holdings plc (LON:PHNX), which rose 0.18% or 1.00 points to 549.00 in late trade.

Worst Performers

The weakest performers of the day included:

• Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC (LON:SPX), which fell 4.79% (360.00 points) to 7,160.00 at the close.
• Frasers Group PLC (LON:FRAS), which fell 4.48% (39.50 points) to 842.50.
• Next PLC (LON:NXT), which fell 3.99% (414.00 points) to 9,976.00.

Market Summary

A total of 1,151 stocks on the London Stock Exchange fell, outnumbering the number of stocks that closed higher – 631. At the same time, 689 stocks did not rise or fall, and were basically flat.

Commodity Prices

The December gold futures option contract price rose by 1.24% (32.40 points) to $2,647.00. In terms of other futures, the November delivery WTI crude oil futures contract price fell by 0.14% (0.10 points) to $71.06, while the November London Brent crude oil futures contract fell by 0.43% (0.32) to $74.56.

Currency Exchange Rates

GBP/USD remained unchanged at 0.21% and the exchange rate was 1.33; at the same time, EUR/GBP was basically flat at 0.17% and the exchange rate was 0.84.

The dollar index futures rose 0.09% to 100.41.