Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.49% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which rose 1.93% or 1.95 points to trade at 102.90 at the close. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) added 1.84% or 0.93 points to end at 51.55 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was up 1.76% or 0.54 points to 31.14 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR), which lost 1.29% or 0.58 points to trade at 44.48 in late trade. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AS:AD) declined 0.86% or 0.17 points to end at 20.07 and Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) shed 0.07% or 0.10 points to 145.70.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 66 to 42 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 2.33% or 27.95 to $1228.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.41% or 0.20 to hit $48.66 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.18 to trade at $51.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0735, while EUR/GBP fell 0.65% to 0.8676.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 100.20.