Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 2.99% or 1.64 points to trade at 56.53 at the close. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 1.94% or 2.05 points to end at 107.75 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 1.18% or 0.660 points to 56.580 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AS:AD), which lost 1.64% or 0.31 points to trade at 18.61 in late trade. Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) declined 1.58% or 0.77 points to end at 47.69 and UCB (BR:UCB) shed 1.30% or 0.80 points to 60.70.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 75 to 74 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 1.33% or 15.85 to $1174.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 8.49% or 3.84 to hit $49.07 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 8.79% or 4.16 to trade at $51.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.65% to 1.0581, while EUR/GBP fell 0.53% to 0.8480.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.71% at 101.70.