Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 3.18% or 2.06 points to trade at 66.80 at the close. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 3.14% or 1.42 points to end at 46.47 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 0.98% or 0.650 points to 67.250 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Proximus NV (BR:PROX), which lost 0.61% or 0.19 points to trade at 31.04 in late trade. KBC (BR:KBC) declined 0.53% or 0.360 points to end at 67.830 and Ageas (BR:AGES) shed 0.32% or 0.120 points to 37.665.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 61 to 45 and 18 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.84% or 10.25 to $1227.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.02% or 0.47 to hit $46.55 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.03% or 0.50 to trade at $48.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.49% to 1.1454, while EUR/GBP fell 0.57% to 0.8759.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 95.02.