Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the General Retailers, Oil & Gas Producers and Chemicals sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.28% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 6.67% or 300.00 points to trade at 4800.00 at the close. Experian PLC (LON:EXPN) added 2.25% or 36.00 points to end at 1635.50 and Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF) was up 2.09% or 58.00 points to 2837.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which lost 2.76% or 11.30 points to trade at 398.70 in late trade. Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) declined 2.58% or 25.80 points to end at 975.20 and WPP PLC (LON:WPP) shed 2.51% or 33.50 points to 1303.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1325 to 763 and 134 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.14% or 1.90 to $1318.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.95% or 1.18 to hit $61.55 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.73% or 1.15 to trade at $67.72 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.49% to 1.3521, while EUR/GBP rose 0.27% to 0.8897.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 91.78.