U.K. Equities Fall Amid Sector Losses

U.K. equities closed lower on Wednesday, driven by losses in the Financials, Energy, and Basic Materials sectors.

The FTSE 100 index fell 0.11% to close at the end of the trading day in London.

Top Performers

The best performers of the day were:

• Flutter Entertainment PLC (LON:), which rose 6.93% or 1,185.00 points to 18,285.00
• Rentokil Initial PLC (LON:), which rose 4.47% or 16.10 points to 376.70
• Fresnillo PLC (LON:), which rose 3.42% or 20.50 points to 619.50

Worst Performers

The weakest stocks were:

• Prudential plc (LON:), which fell 3.40% (22.60 points) to 642.20
• BP plc (LON:), which fell 2.41% (9.90 points) to 400.25
• Persimmon PLC (LON:), which fell 2.41% (40.50 points) to 1,641.00

Market Summary

A total of 965 stocks on the London Stock Exchange fell, outnumbering the 825 stocks that closed higher. Meanwhile, 685 stocks remained unchanged.

Commodity Prices

The December gold futures option contract price rose by 0.12% (3.15 points) to $2,680.15. In terms of other futures:

• The November delivery WTI crude oil futures contract price fell by 2.22% (1.59 points) to $69.97
• The December London Brent crude oil futures contract price fell by 1.75% (1.30) to $73.17

Currency Exchange Rates

The GBP/USD exchange rate fell 0.57% to 1.33, while the EUR/GBP exchange rate was basically flat at 0.25% to 0.84. The dollar index futures rose 0.37% to 100.53.