Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 3.07% or 56.00 points to trade at 1880.00 at the close. Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) added 2.99% or 18.50 points to end at 637.50 and Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) was up 2.58% or 12.300 points to 490.000 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Provident Financial (LON:PFG), which lost 3.05% or 83.00 points to trade at 2642.00 in late trade. Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) declined 2.99% or 23.50 points to end at 761.50 and Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS) shed 2.07% or 140.00 points to 6615.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1134 to 794 and 400 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.47% or 5.65 to $1205.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.51% or 0.27 to hit $53.08 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.70% or 0.39 to trade at $55.97 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.45% to 1.2639, while EUR/GBP fell 0.86% to 0.8508.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 99.87.