Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Food Producers, Insurance and Gas, Water & Multiutilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 3.60% or 248.00 points to trade at 7,132.00 at the close. Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON) added 3.32% or 15.50 points to end at 482.50 and Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) was up 3.18% or 5.00 points to 162.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN), which lost 2.92% or 18.40 points to trade at 611.60 in late trade. Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) declined 2.38% or 32.00 points to end at 1,313.00 and GSK plc (LON:GSK) shed 2.36% or 34.40 points to 1,423.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 944 to 661 and 492 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.34% or 6.85 to $1,987.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.54% or 0.44 to hit $81.46 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.71% or 0.60 to trade at $85.62 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.28% to 1.21, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.13% to 0.87.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.31% at 106.83.