Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 1.25% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which rose 3.66% or 1.46 points to trade at 41.20 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 2.81% or 0.83 points to end at 30.53 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 2.21% or 1.160 points to 53.570 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 0.43% or 0.220 points to trade at 51.000 in late trade. Ageas (BR:AGES) declined 0.07% or 0.025 points to end at 35.920 and Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) gained 0.30% or 0.16 points to 54.13.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 98 to 46 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.18% or 2.25 to $1245.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.72% or 0.36 to hit $50.05 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.13% or 0.57 to trade at $51.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.1353, while EUR/GBP fell 0.84% to 0.7797.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.15% at 93.89.