Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.42% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 2.35% or 1.41 points to trade at 61.48 at the close. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) added 1.86% or 1.570 points to end at 86.070 and NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) was up 1.83% or 0.72 points to 40.09 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 1.51% or 0.46 points to trade at 30.07 in late trade. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) declined 0.76% or 0.11 points to end at 14.32 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) shed 0.76% or 0.29 points to 37.43.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 54 to 53 and 16 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.56% or 7.18 to $1282.82 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $51.30 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.05 to trade at $57.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.61% to 1.1780, while EUR/GBP fell 0.89% to 0.8927.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.57% at 93.53.