Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Life Insurance/Assurance, Automobiles & Parts and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.23% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were G4S PLC (LON:GFS), which rose 16.16% or 31.60 points to trade at 227.20 at the close. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) added 4.39% or 33.50 points to end at 797.00 and Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) was up 3.30% or 6.800 points to 212.800 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which lost 1.39% or 32.00 points to trade at 2268.00 in late trade. SKY PLC (LON:SKYB) declined 1.23% or 11.00 points to end at 887.00 and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LON:ICAG) shed 1.15% or 4.70 points to 402.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1103 to 1041 and 442 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.43% or 5.75 to $1352.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.68% or 0.72 to hit $42.05 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.47% or 0.66 to trade at $44.32 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.03% to 1.3006, while EUR/GBP rose 0.48% to 0.8592.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.47% at 95.61.