Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Pharma & Bio-technology and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BRU:UCB), which rose 1.20% or 0.76 points to trade at 63.94 at the close. Telenet Group (BRU:TNET) added 0.99% or 0.47 points to end at 48.58 and GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) was up 0.93% or 0.16 points to 17.07 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Delhaize Group (BRU:DELB), which lost 0.95% or 0.76 points to trade at 79.21 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BRU:BEKB) declined 0.67% or 0.17 points to end at 25.27 and Befimmo-Sicafi (BRU:BEFBb) shed 0.49% or 0.270 points to 54.990.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 89 to 81 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 1.98% or 23.30 to $1200.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.60% or 0.36 to hit $60.69 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.34 to trade at $64.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.1397, while EUR/GBP rose 0.26% to 0.7178.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.43% at 94.08.