Investing.com – U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Tobacco, Travel & Leisure and Mobile Telecommunications sectors led shares higher.
At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 added 0.67% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Flutter Entertainment PLC (LON:FLTRF), which rose 11.48% or 704.00 points to trade at 6838.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Halma PLC (LON:HLMA) added 3.15% or 64.00 points to end at 2094.00 and Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (LON:SKG) was up 2.92% or 72.00 points to 2537.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL), which fell 1.99% or 45.00 points to trade at 2220.00 at the close. BP PLC (LON:BP) declined 1.73% or 9.60 points to end at 546.30 and NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC) was down 1.05% or 26.00 points to 2454.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1380 to 783 and 217 ended unchanged.
Shares in Halma PLC (LON:HLMA) rose to all time highs; gaining 3.15% or 64.00 to 2094.00.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.93% or 13.05 to $1421.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.08% or 0.61 to hit $56.86 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.65% or 1.03 to trade at $63.43 a barrel.
GBP/USD was down 0.15% to 1.2572, while EUR/GBP rose 0.17% to 0.8973.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 96.330.