Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.59% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which rose 2.72% or 3.20 points to trade at 120.85 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 2.66% or 0.83 points to end at 32.08 and Umicore NV (BR:UMI) was up 2.06% or 1.11 points to 54.97 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 4.37% or 3.580 points to trade at 78.320 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 2.59% or 1.20 points to end at 45.05 and Aperam (AS:APAM) shed 1.31% or 0.61 points to 45.90.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 71 to 42 and 10 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.53% or 6.66 to $1250.34 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.08% or 0.04 to hit $47.62 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.07 to trade at $50.53 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.09% to 1.0920, while EUR/GBP rose 0.09% to 0.8456.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 98.92.