London's FTSE 100 closes lower in shortened Christmas Eve session

Dec 24 (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 closed lower in quiet trading on Wednesday, as investors wound down some positions in pharma heavyweights AstraZeneca and GSK in a truncated Christmas Eve session.

The UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE closed down 0.2%, moving sideways since hitting a five-week high last week following the Bank of England’s 25-basis-point rate cut.

AstraZeneca AZN.L and GSK GSK.L dropped about 0.5% each.

The domestically focussed midcap FTSE 250 .FTMC index was down 0.07%, but still managed to notch its second straight weekly gain.

Trading volumes remained thin heading into the holidays, as many markets are either shut or operating on reduced hours on Christmas Eve.

London’s stock market will remain closed on Thursday and Friday for Christmas and Boxing Day holidays.

Oil major BP BP.L agreed to sell a 65% stake in its Castrol lubricants business to U.S. investment firm Stonepeak for about $6 billion, a significant step in the oil major's $20 billion divestment plan aimed at cutting debt and boosting returns. Its shares were down 0.4%.

The FTSE 100 index is set to close out a fifth straight year of gains, with a 20.7% advance that has outperformed European and U.S. benchmarks, fuelled by miners, financials and defence shares.