Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Automobiles & Parts and Oil Equipment Services & Distribution sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.34% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 4.11% or 78.50 points to trade at 1986.50 at the close. Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) added 2.49% or 59.00 points to end at 2427.00 and Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) was up 2.41% or 42.80 points to 1817.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON:BKGH), which lost 2.30% or 117.00 points to trade at 4965.00 in late trade. Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) declined 2.10% or 57.00 points to end at 2664.00 and Halma PLC (LON:HLMA) shed 2.03% or 44.00 points to 2120.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1110 to 1054 and 208 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.15% or 2.15 to $1478.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.30% or 0.18 to hit $61.05 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.21 to trade at $66.31 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.36% to 1.3081, while EUR/GBP rose 0.10% to 0.8498.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 96.975.