Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Chemicals, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.49%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay (BRU:SOLB), which rose 5.32% or 6.55 points to trade at 129.65 at the close. Ackermans V.Haaren (BRU:ACKB) added 1.88% or 2.35 points to end at 127.25 and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BRU:GBLB) was up 1.71% or 1.24 points to 73.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Delta Lloyd (AMS:DLL), which added 0.08% or 0.01 points to trade at 15.10 in late trade. Befimmo-Sicafi (BRU:BEFBb) added 0.11% or 0.060 points to end at 56.900 and DIeteren SA (BRU:IETB) gained 0.61% or 0.205 points to 34.005.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 120 to 47 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.69% or 8.10 to $1185.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.10% or 0.66 to hit $60.80 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.73% or 0.47 to trade at $65.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.09% to 1.1291, while EUR/GBP fell 0.59% to 0.7290.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 94.83.