Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Telecoms and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.49% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 4.02% or 3.350 points to trade at 86.640 at the close. Aperam SA (AS:APAM) added 1.81% or 0.83 points to end at 47.02 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 1.49% or 1.90 points to 129.45 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 1.04% or 0.32 points to trade at 29.88 in late trade. Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) declined 0.55% or 0.60 points to end at 108.35 and UCB (BR:UCB) shed 0.53% or 0.33 points to 62.16.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 72 to 37 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.54% or 6.86 to $1277.36 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.18% or 0.10 to hit $54.28 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.51% or 0.31 to trade at $60.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.1627, while EUR/GBP fell 0.03% to 0.8765.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 94.61.