LONDON: U.K. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banking, Fixed Line Telecommunications and Construction & Materials sectors led shares higher. At the close in London, the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 gained 0.50%.
The best performers of the session on the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 were Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), which rose 2.52% or 42.00 points to trade at 1708.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) added 2.39% or 19.100 points to end at 817.900 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS) was up 2.08% or 5.000 points to 246.000 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Tui AG (LON:TUIT), which fell 7.22% or 88.00 points to trade at 1130.00 at the close. Capita PLC (LON:CPI) declined 3.70% or 19.50 points to end at 507.50 and Next PLC (LON:NXT) was down 2.68% or 106.00 points to 3847.00.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the London Stock Exchange by 1157 to 781 and 463 ended unchanged. Shares in Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) rose to all time highs; rising 2.52% or 42.00 to 1708.00. Shares in Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) rose to 52-week highs; up 2.39% or 19.100 to 817.900.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.58% or 7.05 to $1232.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.30% or 0.16 to hit $53.04 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.38% or 0.21 to trade at $55.76 a barrel. GBP/USD was down 0.12% to 1.2453, while EUR/GBP rose 0.33% to 0.8508. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 101.10.
