Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.21% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which rose 2.87% or 1.26 points to trade at 45.10 at the close. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) added 2.82% or 2.440 points to end at 88.960 and Telenet Group (BR:TNET) was up 1.50% or 0.90 points to 61.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Engie SA (PA:ENGIE), which lost 0.75% or 0.11 points to trade at 14.56 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 0.67% or 0.18 points to end at 26.80 and Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) shed 0.67% or 1.00 points to 149.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 70 to 45 and 18 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.70% or 9.20 to $1331.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.45% or 0.29 to hit $64.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.22 to trade at $69.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.81% to 1.2130, while EUR/GBP fell 0.34% to 0.8858.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.65% at 91.06.