Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 1.22% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 4.14% or 1.21 points to trade at 30.41 at the close. Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) added 3.05% or 4.30 points to end at 145.35 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 2.84% or 1.730 points to 62.560 in late trade.
Biggest losers included NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which lost 0.39% or 0.18 points to trade at 45.53 in late trade. Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) declined 0.07% or 0.03 points to end at 45.05 and Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) shed 0.05% or 0.05 points to 100.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 61 to 48 and 15 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.52% or 6.25 to $1203.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 2.53% or 1.27 to hit $49.01 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.37% or 1.26 to trade at $51.85 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.38% to 1.0581, while EUR/GBP rose 0.42% to 0.8699.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 101.94.