Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.89%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which rose 2.62% or 2.85 points to trade at 111.50 at the close. Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) added 2.12% or 0.94 points to end at 45.20 and UCB (BR:UCB) was up 1.67% or 1.16 points to 70.76 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 3.77% or 1.16 points to trade at 29.60 in late trade. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) declined 1.49% or 1.140 points to end at 75.180 and Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) gained 0.39% or 0.40 points to 103.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 69 to 40 and 10 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.24% or 3.05 to $1246.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.56% or 0.27 to hit $47.77 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.12% or 0.06 to trade at $50.58 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.13% to 1.0782, while EUR/GBP fell 0.44% to 0.8610.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 99.55.