Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Gas, Water & Multiutilities and Electrical sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 rose 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO), which rose 2.72% or 35.50 points to trade at 1338.50 at the close. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 2.40% or 14.60 points to end at 623.60 and Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) was up 2.21% or 13.40 points to 618.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Prudential PLC (LON:PRU), which lost 3.68% or 53.50 points to trade at 1400.50 in late trade. NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC) declined 2.85% or 39.50 points to end at 1345.50 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) shed 2.51% or 5.80 points to 224.90.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1098 to 1057 and 196 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.66% or 10.25 to $1554.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.50% or 0.29 to hit $57.94 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.59% or 0.38 to trade at $64.11 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.15% to 1.3036, while EUR/GBP rose 0.16% to 0.8559.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 96.900.