Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Fixed Line Telecommunications, Beverage and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.38%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were St. James`s Place PLC (L:SJP), which rose 2.53% or 24.00 points to trade at 971.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Merlin Entertainments PLC (L:MERL) added 2.50% or 10.00 points to end at 410.30 and Experian PLC (L:EXPN) was up 2.27% or 27.00 points to 1214.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were J Sainsbury PLC (L:SBRY), which fell 7.08% or 19.300 points to trade at 253.300 at the close. SSE PLC (L:SSE) declined 3.22% or 48.00 points to end at 1444.00 and BHP Billiton PLC (L:BLT) was down 2.41% or 22.80 points to 923.70.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1186 to 934 and 448 ended unchanged.
Shares in BHP Billiton PLC (L:BLT) fell to 5-year lows; falling 2.41% or 22.80 to 923.70.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.20% or 2.20 to $1086.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.56% or 1.13 to hit $43.08 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 2.63% or 1.26 to trade at $46.84 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.57% to 1.5205, while EUR/GBP fell 0.49% to 0.7059.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.15% at 99.12.