Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Telecoms and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB), which rose 1.75% or 1.80 points to trade at 104.80 at the close. UCB (BR:UCB) added 1.52% or 1.00 points to end at 66.60 and Sofina (BR:SOF) was up 1.45% or 2.00 points to 139.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 3.18% or 0.70 points to trade at 21.34 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 2.59% or 0.96 points to end at 36.10 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) shed 1.03% or 0.840 points to 80.800.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 61 to 52 and 17 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.62% or 8.30 to $1326.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 2.83% or 1.77 to hit $60.83 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.63% or 1.73 to trade at $64.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.05% to 1.2398, while EUR/GBP rose 0.01% to 0.8933.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 89.66.