Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Tobacco sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 1.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM), which rose 4.72% or 33.50 points to trade at 742.50 at the close. Burberry Group PLC (LON:BRBY) added 3.17% or 50.00 points to end at 1630.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was up 3.14% or 26.00 points to 854.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Micro Focus International (LON:MCRO), which lost 8.10% or 178.00 points to trade at 2020.00 in late trade. Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) declined 4.73% or 31.00 points to end at 624.00 and Dixons Carphone PLC (LON:DC) shed 3.11% or 8.40 points to 261.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1319 to 599 and 399 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.52% or 6.28 to $1220.98 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.13% or 0.51 to hit $45.55 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.34 to trade at $47.86 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.33% to 1.2889, while EUR/GBP fell 0.78% to 0.8856.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 95.53.