Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.63% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 4.35% or 1.08 points to trade at 25.89 at the close. UCB (BR:UCB) added 3.55% or 2.60 points to end at 75.74 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) was up 3.28% or 1.19 points to 37.49 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telenet Group Holding NV (BR:TNET), which lost 1.94% or 0.82 points to trade at 41.38 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 1.33% or 0.10 points to end at 7.78 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) shed 1.19% or 0.118 points to 9.821.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 74 to 42 and 12 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.25% or 3.20 to $1289.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 4.62% or 2.30 to hit $52.08 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 4.09% or 2.40 to trade at $61.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.73% to 1.1524, while EUR/GBP rose 0.47% to 0.9034.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.56% at 94.942.