Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Utilities and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.78%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which rose 5.63% or 4.39 points to trade at 82.30 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 4.34% or 0.58 points to end at 14.07 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 3.13% or 1.440 points to 47.440 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BR:ABI), which lost 1.69% or 1.75 points to trade at 102.00 in late trade. UCB (BR:UCB) added 0.21% or 0.15 points to end at 71.36 and Ageas (BR:AGES) gained 0.39% or 0.130 points to 33.700.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 106 to 43 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1239.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.87% or 0.60 to hit $31.55 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.25% or 0.43 to trade at $33.98 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.10% to 1.1025, while EUR/GBP fell 0.04% to 0.7907.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.06% at 97.45.