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FTSE 100 close lower on Wednesday

Xinhua, April 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

FTSE 100 Index, British benchmark stock market gauge, Wednesday decreased by 0.35 percent, or 24.36 points, to 6,937.41 points.

The acquisition deal between Shell and BG group sent the London stock index higher on Wednesday morning, but it fizzled out towards the end of the day as the uncertainty about Greece.

Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday it has reached a deal to buy British oil and gas exploration company BG Group valued at 47 billion pounds (around 70 billion U.S. dollars).

BG shareholders will receive 3.83 pounds per share in cash, plus 0.4454 Shell B shares, equivalent to 13.5 pounds per BG share based on 90-day trading volumes on April 7, 2015, the two companies said in a statement.

However, investors worried about the Greece situation before Thursday's deadline for the country to pay back 458 million euros to the International Monetary Fund.

BG Group's share price increased by 26.65 percent, topped the gainers of the blue chips. Experian, ARM Holdings, Shire and Burberry Group increased by 2.70 percent, 1.91 percent, 1.86 percent and 1.69 percent respectively.

Royal Dutch Shell 'B' led the top losers of the blue chips with a share price drop of 8.56 percent, followed by Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (5.32 percent), Ashtead Group (2.83 percent), Randgold Resources (2.80 percent) and Fresnillo (2.69 percent).

The index has gained 6.98 percent so far this year when measured in U.S. dollar. (1 pound = 1.49 U.S. dollars) Endit