Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.06% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 1.30% or 0.80 points to trade at 62.25 at the close. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) added 1.07% or 1.10 points to end at 103.45 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was up 0.77% or 0.23 points to 30.09 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which lost 1.16% or 0.45 points to trade at 38.25 in late trade. Telenet Group (BR:TNET) declined 0.69% or 0.41 points to end at 58.93 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) shed 0.56% or 0.090 points to 15.890.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 58 to 57 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.22% or 2.73 to $1272.33 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.07% or 1.09 to hit $53.73 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 0.93 to trade at $60.23 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.58% to 1.1584, while EUR/GBP fell 0.25% to 0.8831.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.39% at 94.92.