Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Construction & Materials and Electrical sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 4.04% to hit a new 5-year low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY), which rose 12.66% or 24.30 points to trade at 216.30 at the close. Schroders PLC (LON:SDR) added 9.10% or 213.0 points to end at 2555.0 and Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) was up 8.71% or 118.50 points to 1479.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Carnival PLC (LON:CCL), which lost 34.22% or 322.6 points to trade at 620.0 in late trade. Intermediate Capital Group PLC (LON:ICP) declined 32.55% or 270.00 points to end at 559.50 and Meggitt PLC (LON:MGGT) shed 24.51% or 77.40 points to 238.40.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1761 to 500 and 85 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 2.53% or 38.55 to $1487.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 23.02% or 6.29 to hit $21.04 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 12.98% or 3.73 to trade at $25.00 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 3.97% to 1.1571, while EUR/GBP rose 2.69% to 0.9367.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 2.03% at 101.828.