U.K. Stocks Experience Minor Decline

The U.K. stock market closed slightly lower on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 Index UK:UKX dropping 0.03% to 7,722.74.

Top Losers

Among the FTSE 100 constituents, Flutter Entertainment PLC UK:FLTR, a gambling industries company, saw the largest decline, as its shares dropped by 1.53%. Other companies that experienced losses include:

• Fresnillo PLC UK:FRES (a precious metals firm) - down 1.11%
• Land Securities Group PLC UK:LAND (a diversified reits company) - down 1.00%
• Smurfit Kappa Group PLC UK:SKG (a containers/packaging company) - down 0.89%
• Entain PLC UK:ENT (a gambling industries company) - down 0.86%

Top Gainers

On the other hand, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC UK:SMT, a closed-end funds company, saw the largest increase among the FTSE 100 constituents, with its shares rallying 1.30% on Thursday. Other companies that performed well include:

• BHP Group Ltd. UK:BHP (a general mining firm) - up 0.90%
• GSK PLC UK:GSK (a pharmaceuticals company) - up 0.80%
• Prudential PLC UK:PRU (a life insurance company) - up 0.66%
• Unilever PLC UK:ULVR - up 0.66%

Currency and Commodity Market Overview

The pound weakened against the dollar GBPUSD by 0.45% at $1.2740 and against the euro GBPEUR by 0.15% at €1.1507.

Brent crude UK:BRN00 declined by 1.6% to $78.27, while the yield on the 10-year gilt BX:TMBMKGB-10Y increased by 6.040 basis points to 3.496%.