Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 1.36% or 0.54 points to trade at 40.30 at the close. Sofina (BR:SOF) added 1.30% or 2.20 points to end at 172.00 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 1.13% or 0.15 points to 13.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Engie SA (PA:ENGIE), which lost 0.42% or 0.06 points to trade at 13.06 in late trade. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 0.34% or 0.07 points to end at 20.52 and Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) shed 0.31% or 0.26 points to 84.73.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 57 to 45 and 23 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.70% or 20.30 to $1214.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.84% or 1.25 to hit $69.08 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.89% or 1.41 to trade at $76.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.81% to 1.1633, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.9043.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.60% at 94.98.