Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 1.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 2.43% or 1.48 points to trade at 62.44 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 2.15% or 0.28 points to end at 13.32 and Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) was up 2.06% or 1.99 points to 98.49 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sofina (BR:SOF), which lost 0.44% or 0.55 points to trade at 124.90 in late trade. Aperam SA (AS:APAM) declined 0.23% or 0.10 points to end at 41.84 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) shed 0.03% or 0.005 points to 15.580.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 75 to 40 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.52% or 6.31 to $1221.01 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.29% or 0.58 to hit $45.62 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.84% or 0.40 to trade at $47.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.42% to 1.1418, while EUR/GBP fell 0.74% to 0.8860.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 95.50.