Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were bpost NV (BR:BPOST), which rose 2.49% or 0.32 points to trade at 13.17 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 1.63% or 0.38 points to end at 23.74 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 1.56% or 1.75 points to 114.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which lost 1.17% or 0.54 points to trade at 45.81 in late trade. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) declined 0.90% or 0.820 points to end at 89.940 and Aperam SA (AS:APAM) shed 0.79% or 0.31 points to 38.69.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 58 to 51 and 19 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.07% or 0.80 to $1185.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.63% or 0.41 to hit $65.42 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.44 to trade at $71.20 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.32% to 1.1383, while EUR/GBP rose 0.15% to 0.8951.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 96.45.