Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Delhaize Group (BR:DELB), which rose 2.27% or 2.14 points to trade at 96.37 at the close. UCB (BR:UCB) added 1.19% or 0.77 points to end at 65.72 and Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) was up 1.03% or 0.55 points to 53.95 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which lost 2.42% or 2.21 points to trade at 88.99 in late trade. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) declined 2.13% or 0.29 points to end at 13.55 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) shed 2.07% or 0.60 points to 28.64.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 81 to 62 and 17 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.67% or 8.10 to $1209.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.31% or 0.15 to hit $48.95 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $49.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.31% to 1.1166, while EUR/GBP rose 1.03% to 0.7750.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 95.54.