Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR), which rose 3.03% or 1.25 points to trade at 42.65 at the close. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 1.58% or 0.56 points to end at 36.25 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) was up 0.63% or 0.25 points to 39.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 1.91% or 1.390 points to trade at 71.320 in late trade. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) declined 1.56% or 0.23 points to end at 14.47 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) shed 1.52% or 0.43 points to 27.80.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 79 to 40 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.55% or 6.90 to $1255.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.41% or 0.23 to hit $56.83 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.39 to trade at $62.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.40% to 1.1779, while EUR/GBP fell 0.50% to 0.8771.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 93.67.