U.K. stocks lower at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 down 0.17%

Investing.com – U.K. stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Fixed Line Telecommunications and Chemicals sectors led shares lower.

At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 0.17%.

The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON), which rose 5.19% or 24.60 points to trade at 498.80 at the close. Meanwhile, 3I Group PLC (LON:III) added 4.34% or 139.00 points to end at 3,340.00 and BT Group PLC (LON:BT) was up 3.69% or 5.25 points to 147.40 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Schroders PLC (LON:SDR), which fell 13.70% or 49.80 points to trade at 313.80 at the close. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) declined 8.40% or 928.00 points to end at 10,114.00 and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) was down 1.94% or 36.00 points to 1,820.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 989 to 842 and 622 ended unchanged.

Shares in Schroders PLC (LON:SDR) fell to 5-year lows; down 13.70% or 49.80 to 313.80.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.19% or 5.10 to $2,751.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.54% or 1.10 to hit $72.57 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.35% or 1.01 to trade at $76.09 a barrel.

GBP/USD was up 0.54% to 1.30, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.11% to 0.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 103.39.