Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Technology and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.29% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 4.58% or 3.32 points to trade at 75.73 at the close. Aperam SA (AS:APAM) added 0.77% or 0.35 points to end at 45.42 and Telenet Group (BR:TNET) was up 0.73% or 0.43 points to 59.11 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UCB (BR:UCB), which lost 0.58% or 0.35 points to trade at 60.40 in late trade. ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) declined 0.51% or 0.080 points to end at 15.665 and Proximus NV (BR:PROX) shed 0.24% or 0.07 points to 28.82.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 63 to 52 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.44% or 5.71 to $1294.61 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.97% or 0.50 to hit $50.80 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.83% or 0.47 to trade at $56.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.18% to 1.1837, while EUR/GBP fell 0.19% to 0.8954.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 92.96.