Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the General Retailers, Oil & Gas Producers and Chemicals sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.28% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Next PLC (LON:NXT), which rose 6.67% or 300.00 points to trade at 4800.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Experian PLC (LON:EXPN) added 2.25% or 36.00 points to end at 1635.50 and Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF) was up 2.09% or 58.00 points to 2837.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which fell 2.76% or 11.30 points to trade at 398.70 at the close. Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) declined 2.58% or 25.80 points to end at 975.20 and WPP PLC (LON:WPP) was down 2.51% or 33.50 points to 1303.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1325 to 763 and 134 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.14% or 1.90 to $1318.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.95% or 1.18 to hit $61.55 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.70% or 1.13 to trade at $67.70 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.49% to 1.3521, while EUR/GBP rose 0.28% to 0.8898.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 91.78.