Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare Equipment & Services, Industrial Metals & Mining and Construction & Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.13%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN), which rose 5.05% or 60.00 points to trade at 1,249.00 at the close. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) added 4.01% or 99.50 points to end at 2,582.50 and Tui AG (LON:TUIT) was up 3.54% or 20.00 points to 585.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BT Group PLC (LON:BT), which lost 2.74% or 3.85 points to trade at 136.80 in late trade. Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV) declined 2.20% or 19.00 points to end at 844.40 and AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) shed 1.96% or 230.00 points to 11,510.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 843 to 824 and 476 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.52% or 10.15 to $1,968.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.36% or 0.25 to hit $69.17 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.26 to trade at $74.03 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.62% to 1.27, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.01% to 0.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.63% at 102.28.