Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Construction & Materials and Automobiles & Parts sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the FTSE 100 added 0.30% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE 100 were Tullow Oil Plc (LONDON:TLW), which rose 8.74% or 32.20 points to trade at 400.80 at the close. Sports Direct Intl Plc (LONDON:SPD) added 3.80% or 24.50 points to end at 670.00 and Sainsbury(J) (LONDON:SBRY) was up 3.53% or 9.70 points to 284.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bunzl Plc (LONDON:BNZL), which lost 2.62% or 50.00 points to trade at 1860.00 in late trade. International Airlines Group (LONDON:ICAG) declined 2.02% or 12.00 points to end at 583.50 and Reed Elsevier (LONDON:REL) shed 1.62% or 19.00 points to 1150.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1514 to 1153 and 449 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.34% or 4.10 to $1196.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.52% or 2.41 to hit $55.70 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 3.75% or 2.25 to trade at $62.05 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.03% to 1.4787, while EUR/GBP fell 0.45% to 0.7176.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 99.13.