Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil Equipment Services & Distribution, Food & Drug Retailers and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 lost 1.30% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 6.49% or 56.60 points to trade at 929.00 at the close. Prudential PLC (LON:PRU) added 5.07% or 92.50 points to end at 1918.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was up 3.46% or 31.60 points to 946.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW), which lost 4.86% or 11.00 points to trade at 215.30 in late trade. Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) declined 2.07% or 11.60 points to end at 548.20 and BP PLC (LON:BP) shed 1.95% or 9.25 points to 464.75.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1175 to 708 and 151 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.17% or 2.20 to $1324.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $60.72 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.07 to trade at $64.57 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.06% to 1.3954, while EUR/GBP fell 0.09% to 0.8865.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 89.72.