Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Fixed Line Telecommunications, Mobile Telecommunications and Beverage sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.16% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), which rose 4.42% or 56.00 points to trade at 1322.00 at the close. Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW) added 4.05% or 6.30 points to end at 158.90 and Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) was up 3.96% or 18.400 points to 483.400 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Next PLC (LON:NXT), which lost 14.32% or 683.00 points to trade at 4157.07 in late trade. Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) declined 6.18% or 21.30 points to end at 322.99 and Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF) shed 3.69% or 100.00 points to 2611.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 993 to 929 and 431 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.39% or 4.50 to $1166.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.36% or 0.71 to hit $53.04 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.23% or 0.68 to trade at $56.15 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.65% to 1.2319, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00% to 0.8503.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.63% at 102.59.