Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were ING Groep NV (AS:INGA), which rose 1.46% or 0.206 points to trade at 14.352 at the close. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) added 1.39% or 1.30 points to end at 94.72 and Aperam SA (AS:APAM) was up 0.95% or 0.38 points to 40.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included bpost NV (BR:BPOST), which lost 2.26% or 0.48 points to trade at 20.76 in late trade. Umicore SA (BR:UMI) declined 1.59% or 0.72 points to end at 44.54 and Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) shed 1.43% or 1.50 points to 103.50.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 64 to 42 and 20 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.39% or 5.20 to $1312.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.65% or 1.01 to hit $62.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.35% or 0.88 to trade at $66.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.15% to 1.2287, while EUR/GBP fell 0.14% to 0.8817.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 90.22.