Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 1.70% or 0.76 points to trade at 45.53 at the close. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 1.06% or 1.25 points to end at 119.10 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 0.64% or 0.480 points to 75.060 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 1.74% or 0.46 points to trade at 25.92 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 1.17% or 0.32 points to end at 27.08 and Sofina (BR:SOF) shed 1.16% or 1.60 points to 136.40.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 62 to 50 and 17 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.57% or 7.60 to $1331.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.14% or 0.09 to hit $64.06 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $69.33 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.56% to 1.2254, while EUR/GBP fell 0.01% to 0.8812.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.49% at 90.21.