Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Telecoms and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.18%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 8.93% or 6.370 points to trade at 77.690 at the close. Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) added 1.10% or 1.20 points to end at 109.85 and Proximus NV (BR:PROX) was up 0.86% or 0.23 points to 27.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 2.16% or 0.60 points to trade at 27.20 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 1.09% or 0.40 points to end at 35.85 and Aperam SA (AS:APAM) shed 1.08% or 0.46 points to 42.32.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 58 to 55 and 14 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1257.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.35% or 0.20 to hit $57.24 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.14 to trade at $63.17 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.03% to 1.1774, while EUR/GBP rose 0.82% to 0.8842.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 93.85.