Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Construction & Materials, Industrials and Pharma & Bio-technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.71% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Engie SA (PA:ENGIE), which rose 2.72% or 0.43 points to trade at 16.24 at the close. UCB (BR:UCB) added 2.71% or 1.84 points to end at 69.83 and Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) was up 2.61% or 3.50 points to 137.75 in late trade.
Biggest losers included KBC (BR:KBC), which lost 1.11% or 0.590 points to trade at 52.630 in late trade. Elia (BR:ELI) declined 0.33% or 0.145 points to end at 44.165 and Befimmo-Sicafi (BR:BEFBb) gained 0.23% or 0.140 points to 60.140.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 109 to 40 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.34% or 4.00 to $1162.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.67% or 0.76 to hit $44.62 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.47% or 0.23 to trade at $47.85 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.79% to 1.1017, while EUR/GBP fell 0.53% to 0.7178.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.71% at 97.12.