Investing.com – U.K. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the , and sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in London, the lost 1.20%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the were Centrica PLC (LON:), which rose 1.46% or 2.30 points to trade at 160.35 at the close. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:) added 1.33% or 78.00 points to end at 5,950.00 and Whitbread PLC (LON:) was up 1.29% or 43.00 points to 3,366.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Persimmon PLC (LON:), which lost 6.74% or 72.10 points to trade at 997.40 in late trade. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:) declined 5.84% or 658.00 points to end at 10,612.00 and Tui AG (LON:) shed 5.36% or 24.00 points to 424.00.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1180 to 448 and 487 ended unchanged on the London Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.59% or 30.75 to $1,966.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.61% or 2.23 to hit $87.67 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 2.16% or 1.94 to trade at $91.84 a barrel.

GBP/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 1.22, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.15% to 0.87.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 106.21.