Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.76% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 1.36% or 0.96 points to trade at 71.52 at the close. Elia (BR:ELI) added 0.56% or 0.250 points to end at 45.295 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was up 0.51% or 0.15 points to 29.82 in late trade.
Biggest losers included NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which lost 4.48% or 1.59 points to trade at 33.88 in late trade. ING Groep NV (AS:ING) declined 2.20% or 0.225 points to end at 9.990 and Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) shed 1.73% or 2.05 points to 116.55.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 76 to 67 and 12 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.38% or 16.90 to $1240.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.36% or 0.89 to hit $36.86 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 2.31% or 0.92 to trade at $38.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.15% to 1.1384, while EUR/GBP rose 0.15% to 0.8084.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 94.44.