Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Insurance, Life Insurance/Assurance and Financial Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.59%.
The best performers 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. Meanwhile, 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.
The worst performers of the session were Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), which fell 3.41% or 99.00 points to trade at 2802.00 at the close. Smiths Group PLC (LON:SMIN) declined 1.94% or 22.00 points to end at 1111.00 and Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) was down 1.85% or 8.00 points to 425.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1326 to 751 and 437 ended unchanged.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.19% or 2.40 to $1270.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.46% or 0.73 to hit $49.12 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 0.20% to 1.4684, while EUR/GBP rose 0.26% to 0.7692.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 93.83.