Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrial Metals & Mining, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Life Insurance/Assurance sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.10%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK), which rose 3.07% or 56.00 points to trade at 1880.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Pearson PLC (LON:PSON) added 2.99% or 18.50 points to end at 637.50 and Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) was up 2.58% or 12.300 points to 490.000 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Provident Financial (LON:PFG), which fell 3.05% or 83.00 points to trade at 2642.00 at the close. Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) declined 2.99% or 23.50 points to end at 761.50 and Randgold Resources Ltd (LON:RRS) was down 2.07% or 140.00 points to 6615.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1134 to 794 and 401 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.46% or 5.55 to $1205.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.51% or 0.27 to hit $53.08 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.40 to trade at $55.98 a barrel.
GBP/USD was up 0.45% to 1.2638, while EUR/GBP fell 0.86% to 0.8508.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 99.87.