Investing.com – U.K. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Mining and Aerospace & Defense sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 1.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which rose 11.51% or 143.00 points to trade at 1385.00 at the close. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) added 10.69% or 171.00 points to end at 1771.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was up 8.91% or 52.50 points to 641.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY), which lost 6.58% or 16.800 points to trade at 238.700 in late trade. Experian PLC (LON:EXPN) declined 3.30% or 50.00 points to end at 1467.00 and SSE PLC (LON:SSE) shed 3.17% or 50.00 points to 1527.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1365 to 1150 and 220 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.34% or 4.35 to $1278.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.40% or 0.63 to hit $45.61 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.22% or 0.56 to trade at $46.60 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.58% to 1.2456, while EUR/GBP fell 1.39% to 0.8780.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.52% at 98.39.