Finland's equity market closed lower on Thursday, led by weakness in Industrials, Basic Materials and Telecoms. The OMX Helsinki 25 fell 2.50% at the end of trading in Helsinki.
The top performer on the OMX Helsinki 25 was Neste Oyj (HE:NESTE), which advanced 3.27% - a rise of 0.94 points - to finish at 29.70. The stock also reached a 52-week high during the session.
Among other large-cap names, Elisa Oyj (HE:ELISA) slipped 0.28%, or 0.12 points, closing at 43.28, while TietoEVRY Corp (HE:TIETO) declined 0.49%, or 0.09 points, to end the day at 18.37.
The weakest performers in the index were concentrated in industrials and materials. Metso Oyj (HE:METSO) led declines, falling 6.00% - down 0.91 points - to close at 14.27. Outokumpu Oyj (HE:OUT1V) dropped 5.18%, or 0.25 points, to finish at 4.54. Stora Enso Oyj R (HE:STERV) declined 4.38%, or 0.44 points, to 9.67 at the close.
Decliners strongly outnumbered advancers on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, with 147 stocks down versus 31 that rose; 14 stocks finished unchanged.
Market commodity and currency moves
Commodity prices moved alongside the equity declines. Brent crude for May delivery rose 2.32%, gaining 2.49 to reach $109.87 a barrel. Light crude for May delivery increased 1.82%, a rise of 1.74, to $97.20 a barrel. In precious metals, the April Gold Futures contract fell 6.31% - a drop of 309.16 - to trade at $4,587.04 a troy ounce.
Currency markets showed the euro strengthening versus the dollar and holding near the pound. EUR/USD was up 0.74% at 1.15, while EUR/GBP was unchanged 0.10% at 0.86. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.49% at 99.39.
What this means
The trading day was dominated by broad-based selling across industrial and basic materials names, with energy-related commodity moves and currency shifts also present. Neste stood out as a notable outperformer within the index, while several materials and industrials registered outsized losses.