Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which rose 2.83% or 1.27 points to trade at 46.27 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 1.86% or 0.26 points to end at 13.98 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) was up 1.53% or 0.230 points to 15.270 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which lost 2.31% or 2.40 points to trade at 101.65 in late trade. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) declined 1.52% or 1.32 points to end at 85.36 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) shed 0.86% or 0.28 points to 31.77.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 62 to 49 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.10% or 14.24 to $1278.96 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.42% or 0.19 to hit $45.91 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.21% or 0.10 to trade at $48.16 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.42% to 1.1209, while EUR/GBP fell 0.20% to 0.8673.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 97.02.