Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Insurance, Life Insurance/Assurance and Financial Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HRGV), which rose 4.07% or 54.00 points to trade at 1381.00 at the close. Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (LON:ADN) added 3.60% or 10.50 points to end at 302.50 and Old Mutual PLC (LON:OML) was up 2.98% or 5.60 points to 193.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), which lost 3.41% or 99.00 points to trade at 2802.00 in late trade. Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) declined 1.94% or 22.00 points to end at 1111.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) shed 1.85% or 8.00 points to 425.00.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1326 to 751 and 437 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.18% or 2.35 to $1270.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.44% or 0.72 to hit $49.13 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.46% or 0.74 to trade at $49.88 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.22% to 1.4686, while EUR/GBP rose 0.26% to 0.7692.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 93.83.