Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.46%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 2.55% or 1.53 points to trade at 61.62 at the close. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) added 2.05% or 1.530 points to end at 76.040 and Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) was up 1.71% or 1.85 points to 110.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which lost 0.66% or 0.28 points to trade at 42.84 in late trade. KBC (BR:KBC) declined 0.24% or 0.160 points to end at 66.100 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 0.18% or 0.03 points to 13.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 80 to 34 and 5 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.72% or 9.15 to $1276.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.99% or 0.48 to hit $47.88 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.93% or 0.47 to trade at $50.16 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.54% to 1.1273, while EUR/GBP rose 0.53% to 0.8750.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.48% at 96.69.