Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Technology and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 2.02% or 1.330 points to trade at 67.120 at the close. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) added 1.40% or 1.34 points to end at 97.36 and Ageas (BR:AGES) was up 1.20% or 0.445 points to 37.495 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which lost 1.24% or 0.75 points to trade at 59.91 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 0.80% or 0.36 points to end at 44.40 and Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) shed 0.40% or 0.60 points to 148.45.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 63 to 44 and 15 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.03% or 12.66 to $1210.64 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.42% or 1.10 to hit $44.42 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 2.47% or 1.19 to trade at $46.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.19% to 1.1401, while EUR/GBP rose 0.49% to 0.8851.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 95.81.