London's stock market closed higher on Wednesday, with the Investing.com United Kingdom 100 advancing 1.26% to reach a fresh all-time high. Sector leadership came from Mining, Industrial Metals & Mining and Aerospace & Defense, which together pushed the broader index into positive territory at the close.
The session's strongest performers included Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO), which surged 10.59% - a rise of 383.00 points - to finish at 4,000.00. Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) climbed 4.77% or 178.00 points to close at 3,912.00, and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) added 4.63% or 162.00 points to end the day at 3,661.00.
On the downside, Unite Group PLC (LON:UTG) led losses after slipping 2.86% or 17.00 points to 578.00 at the close. BT Group PLC (LON:BT) declined 2.45% or 5.10 points to finish at 203.30, and National Grid PLC (LON:NG) was down 2.03% or 28.00 points to 1,348.50.
Market breadth favored risers: on the London Stock Exchange, 1,158 stocks closed higher against 632 that fell, while 519 shares finished unchanged.
Antofagasta's share price reached an all-time high during the session, reflecting the stock's 10.59% advance to 4,000.00.
Commodities moved notably alongside equities. Gold futures for April delivery gained 2.31%, up 113.34 to trade at $5,019.24 per troy ounce. In energy markets, April delivery crude oil rose 3.77% or $2.35 to $64.61 a barrel, while the April Brent contract increased 3.56% or $2.40 to $69.82 a barrel.
In foreign exchange trading, GBP/USD was effectively unchanged, moving 0.18% to 1.35, and EUR/GBP was also essentially flat, changing 0.11% to 0.87. The US Dollar Index Futures finished the session up 0.37% at 97.42.
This session's moves underscore sector concentration in the day's rally and a mixed picture across utilities, telecoms and real estate-related names. The data points above reflect closing prices and intraday moves reported at the London close.
Key metrics and price moves cited reflect official close-of-day values for the Investing.com United Kingdom 100, individual equities identified by their LON tickers, major commodity futures and select currency pairs.