Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.62%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 1.75% or 1.19 points to trade at 69.34 at the close. Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) added 1.62% or 1.75 points to end at 109.65 and ING Groep NV (AS:ING) was up 1.54% or 0.151 points to 9.944 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which lost 1.90% or 0.96 points to trade at 49.94 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 1.32% or 0.56 points to end at 41.58 and Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BR:ABI) shed 0.44% or 0.50 points to 112.95.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 55 to 43 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 1.04% or 13.85 to $1318.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.86% or 0.39 to hit $45.84 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.29% or 0.60 to trade at $47.26 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.14% to 1.1006, while EUR/GBP fell 0.64% to 0.8353.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 97.18.