Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Insurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were United Utilities Group PLC (LON:UU), which rose 3.36% or 35.00 points to trade at 1,076.50 at the close. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) added 3.11% or 350.00 points to end at 11,594.00 and GSK plc (LON:GSK) was up 2.64% or 38.20 points to 1,487.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included CRH PLC (LON:CRH), which lost 5.50% or 221.00 points to trade at 3,800.00 in late trade. Auto Trader Group Plc (LON:AUTOA) declined 4.04% or 25.00 points to end at 594.60 and EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) shed 3.59% or 18.40 points to 494.20.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1164 to 616 and 496 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.06% or 1.20 to $2,037.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.11% or 0.09 to hit $80.62 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.12 to trade at $85.06 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.36% to 1.25, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.10% to 0.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.37% at 101.64.