Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banking, Life Insurance/Assurance and Software & Computer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.22% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), which rose 4.60% or 12.90 points to trade at 293.40 at the close. HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) added 3.81% or 29.20 points to end at 795.50 and Prudential PLC (LON:PRU) was up 3.28% or 62.50 points to 1970.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which lost 6.14% or 66.00 points to trade at 1009.00 in late trade. Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW) declined 4.17% or 8.70 points to end at 200.20 and Paddy Power Betfair PLC (LON:PPB) shed 3.69% or 325.00 points to 8475.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1083 to 906 and 163 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.34% or 4.50 to $1318.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.56% or 0.35 to hit $63.31 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.11 to trade at $68.93 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.21% to 1.3511, while EUR/GBP rose 0.35% to 0.8847.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 92.05.