Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Automobiles & Parts, Software & Computer Services and Gas, Water & Multiutilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Provident Financial PLC (LON:PFG), which rose 16.10% or 71.80 points to trade at 517.80 at the close. Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) added 4.68% or 9.30 points to end at 208.00 and Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) was up 3.25% or 23.80 points to 757.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV), which lost 6.80% or 144.50 points to trade at 1981.50 in late trade. Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT) declined 1.91% or 61.00 points to end at 3135.00 and Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) shed 1.84% or 85.00 points to 4521.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1195 to 965 and 201 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.37% or 4.95 to $1333.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 3.81% or 2.04 to hit $51.44 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 2.50% or 1.55 to trade at $60.42 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.04% to 1.2692, while EUR/GBP fell 0.08% to 0.8852.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 97.197.