UK equities declined on Thursday, with the Investing.com UK 100 index falling 0.80% as losses in fixed-line telephony, beverages and tobacco weighed on sentiment. Declining stocks outnumbered advancers by 869 to 805, while 577 issues were unchanged.
Sage Group led gains among blue-chip constituents, rising 3.81% to close at £1,103.50. London Stock Exchange Group added 3.36% to £8,980.00, while REL advanced 3.17% to £2,668.00. Entain was the top decliner, dropping 3.66% to £511.00 and touching a 52-week low. Vistry Group fell 3.44% to £303.00, and Londonmetric Property declined 2.72% to £189.40.
Commodities showed modest gains. Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.16% to $4,660.96 per troy ounce, while crude oil for October delivery advanced 0.57% to $82.70 per barrel. Brent crude for November delivery climbed 0.67% to $87.52 per barrel.
The pound held steady against the dollar, with GBP/USD flat at 1.36. The euro’s cross rate versus sterling was unchanged at 0.86, while the U.S. Dollar Futures Index rose 0.02% to 99.07.
