Investing.com – Netherlands equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Amsterdam, the AEX rose 1.03% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the AEX were Unilever NV (AS:UNc), which rose 13.22% or 5.23 points to trade at 44.80 at the close. Heineken (AS:HEIN) added 1.12% or 0.85 points to end at 76.90 and Relx NV (AS:RELN) was up 0.52% or 0.085 points to 16.465 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Vopak (AS:VOPA), which lost 7.13% or 2.98 points to trade at 38.81 in late trade. Aegon (AS:AEGN) declined 4.54% or 0.239 points to end at 5.026 and ABN AMRO Group NV (AS:ABNd) shed 2.78% or 0.62 points to 21.88.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 75 to 52 and 8 ended unchanged on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
The AEX Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of AEX options, was down 4.30% to 13.59.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for March delivery was down 0.51% or 0.27 to $53.09 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in April fell 0.22% or 0.12 to hit $55.53 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.14% or 1.75 to trade at $1239.85 a troy ounce.
EUR/USD was down 0.54% to 1.0616, while EUR/GBP fell 0.08% to 0.8540.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.42% at 100.87.