Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 1.40% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Argen-X (BR:ARGX), which rose 0.50% or 0.40 points to trade at 81.10 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 0.49% or 0.08 points to end at 16.56 and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) was up 0.22% or 0.16 points to 73.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 3.05% or 2.380 points to trade at 75.600 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 2.75% or 0.21 points to end at 7.59 and KBC (BR:KBC) shed 2.33% or 1.320 points to 55.340.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 82 to 35 and 20 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.77% or 9.80 to $1279.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 3.26% or 1.52 to hit $45.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 3.45% or 1.91 to trade at $53.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.61% to 1.1422, while EUR/GBP rose 0.60% to 0.9041.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.43% at 96.162.