Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 2.34% or 0.84 points to trade at 36.81 at the close. Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) added 2.03% or 2.10 points to end at 105.60 and UCB (BR:UCB) was up 2.00% or 1.32 points to 67.34 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Proximus NV (BR:PROX), which lost 4.74% or 0.96 points to trade at 19.31 in late trade. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) declined 4.38% or 3.620 points to end at 78.940 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) shed 2.59% or 0.36 points to 13.53.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 72 to 44 and 23 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.26% or 3.30 to $1254.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.60% or 0.44 to hit $73.89 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.79% or 1.39 to trade at $79.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.94% to 1.1677, while EUR/GBP rose 0.01% to 0.8847.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.75% at 94.29.