Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 3.92% or 0.88 points to trade at 23.34 at the close. Umicore SA (EBR:UMI) added 2.96% or 0.33 points to end at 11.47 and Syensqo SA (EBR:SYENS) was up 1.29% or 0.90 points to 70.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Argen-X (EBR:ARGX), which lost 1.38% or 6.50 points to trade at 464.60 in late trade. Ackermans & Van Haaren NV (EBR:ACKB) declined 0.58% or 1.00 points to end at 172.00 and UCB SA (EBR:UCB) shed 0.37% or 0.60 points to 160.95.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 61 to 28 and 16 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.05% or 26.40 to $2,543.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.47% or 1.80 to hit $74.81 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 2.31% or 1.78 to trade at $79.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.58% to 1.12, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.22% to 0.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.65% at 100.74.