U.K. equities closed lower on Wednesday, with losses concentrated in Household Goods & Home Construction, General Retailers and Aerospace & Defense sectors contributing to the decline.
At the London close, the United Kingdom 100 was down 1.18%.
Top performers
- DCC plc (LON:DCC) led gains, climbing 9.29% or 500.00 points to finish at 5,880.00.
- Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK) added 3.72% or 171.00 points to close at 4,766.00.
- WPP PLC (LON:WPP) rose 3.68% or 9.50 points to end the session at 267.90.
Largest decliners
- B&M European Value Retail PLC (LON:BMEB) fell 5.75% or 10.00 points to 164.00 at the close.
- GSK plc (LON:GSK) dropped 5.42% or 110.00 points to finish at 1,918.00.
- Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) was down 4.38% or 47.00 points to close at 1,027.00.
On the London Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by 1,037 to 690, with 559 names unchanged.
Notable stock milestones included DCC plc moving to a 52-week high after its 9.29% gain, while Persimmon PLC fell to a 52-week low following its 4.38% decline.
Commodities and currencies
Gold Futures for June delivery slipped 0.69% or 31.71 to $4,576.69 a troy ounce. In energy markets, crude oil for June delivery rose 6.40% or 6.40 to $106.33 a barrel, and the July Brent contract increased 5.63% or 5.88 to trade at $110.28 a barrel.
In currency markets, GBP/USD was essentially unchanged, moving 0.16% to 1.35, while EUR/GBP was nearly flat, changing 0.03% to 0.87. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 98.64.
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