Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 3.03% or 2.380 points to trade at 80.870 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 2.95% or 0.38 points to end at 13.10 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was up 1.68% or 0.50 points to 30.25 in late trade.
Biggest losers included KBC (BR:KBC), which lost 0.97% or 0.610 points to trade at 62.510 in late trade. Aperam (AS:APAM) declined 0.87% or 0.41 points to end at 46.41 and Proximus NV (BR:PROX) shed 0.51% or 0.15 points to 29.10.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 59 to 47 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.33% or 4.15 to $1251.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.88% or 0.91 to hit $49.28 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.75% or 0.90 to trade at $52.32 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.56% to 1.0753, while EUR/GBP fell 0.16% to 0.8669.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.40% at 99.93.