Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare Equipment & Services, Food & Drug Retailers and Household Goods & Home Construction sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 fell 0.78%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR), which rose 3.54% or 12.70 points to trade at 371.30 at the close. JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD) added 2.44% or 2.80 points to end at 117.70 and Beazley PLC (LON:BEZG) was up 1.87% or 12.00 points to 652.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP), which lost 18.55% or 115.20 points to trade at 505.80 in late trade. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RKT) declined 13.29% or 776.00 points to end at 5,062.00 and Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN) shed 5.88% or 65.50 points to 1,048.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1130 to 645 and 677 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.03% or 0.55 to $2,043.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.62% or 0.49 to hit $78.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.76% or 0.63 to trade at $82.03 a barrel.
GBP/USD was unchanged 0.08% to 1.27, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.12% to 0.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 103.81.