Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Telecoms and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.77%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 2.10% or 1.310 points to trade at 63.560 at the close. ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) added 1.87% or 0.250 points to end at 13.600 and Proximus NV (BR:PROX) was up 1.72% or 0.46 points to 27.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which lost 0.74% or 0.30 points to trade at 40.41 in late trade. Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB) declined 0.52% or 0.55 points to end at 105.55 and KBC (BR:KBC) shed 0.25% or 0.150 points to 58.920.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 62 to 48 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.45% or 5.55 to $1233.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.45% or 0.76 to hit $53.10 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.53 to trade at $55.65 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.37% to 1.0658, while EUR/GBP fell 0.26% to 0.8510.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.46% at 100.60.