Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.67%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 2.02% or 1.580 points to trade at 79.780 at the close. Ageas (BR:AGES) added 1.94% or 0.830 points to end at 43.600 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) was up 1.78% or 0.246 points to 14.070 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 2.48% or 0.54 points to trade at 21.24 in late trade. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) declined 0.47% or 0.41 points to end at 85.99 and Ablynx NV (BR:ABLX) shed 0.09% or 0.040 points to 44.460.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 62 to 46 and 19 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.41% or 19.20 to $1340.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.18% or 0.12 to hit $66.70 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.51% or 0.37 to trade at $71.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.37% to 1.2321, while EUR/GBP fell 0.79% to 0.8654.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.31% at 89.50.