Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Automobiles & Parts and Construction & Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were BG Group (LONDON:BG), which rose 26.65% or 242.60 points to trade at 1153.00 at the close. Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW) added 4.43% or 13.30 points to end at 313.60 and Experian Plc (LONDON:EXPN) was up 2.70% or 31.00 points to 1181.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Dutch Shell B (LONDON:RDSb), which lost 8.56% or 189.00 points to trade at 2019.50 in late trade. Royal Dutch Shell A (LONDON:RDSa) declined 5.33% or 111.50 points to end at 1982.50 and Ashtead Group (LONDON:AHT) shed 2.83% or 31.00 points to 1064.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1468 to 1182 and 441 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.55% or 6.70 to $1203.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 4.59% or 2.48 to hit $51.50 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.48% or 2.06 to trade at $57.05 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.76% to 1.4923, while EUR/GBP fell 0.74% to 0.7249.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 97.97.