Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Tobacco, Food & Drug Retailers and Beverage sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.29%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTUP), which rose 13.62% or 27.10 points to trade at 226.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) added 7.55% or 280.00 points to end at 3990.00 and British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) was up 3.67% or 178.00 points to 5028.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Hammerson PLC (LON:HMSO), which fell 6.17% or 33.00 points to trade at 501.50 at the close. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) declined 2.96% or 29.00 points to end at 950.00 and Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) was down 1.86% or 46.00 points to 2427.00.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1247 to 799 and 123 ended unchanged.
Shares in Hammerson PLC (LON:HMSO) fell to 52-week lows; falling 6.17% or 33.00 to 501.50.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.13% or 1.60 to $1266.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 2.48% or 1.43 to hit $56.19 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 2.15% or 1.35 to trade at $61.51 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.53% to 1.3372, while EUR/GBP rose 0.20% to 0.8815.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 93.61.