LONDON, March 3 (Xinhua) — The London stock market closed higher on Wednesday with the leading share index FTSE 100 up 49.15 points, or 0.90 percent, at 5,533.21 points.

Shares in Brewin Dolphin, Hochschild Mining, Aquarius Platinum Ltd and Arriva all gained more than 6 percent. And shares in Lonmin, Standard Chartered and Tullett Prebon rose more than 5 percent. Shares in most banking companies increased during the day and most of energy firms also closed higher.

Meanwhile, shares in Unite Group declined 11.66 percent, the biggest loser of the day, and shares in Moneysupermarket.com and Pace dropped more than 6 percent.