Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 2.99% or 0.76 points to trade at 26.14 at the close. Umicore SA (BR:UMI) added 2.68% or 1.23 points to end at 47.18 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 1.35% or 1.50 points to 112.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which lost 0.89% or 0.39 points to trade at 43.36 in late trade. Telenet Group (BR:TNET) declined 0.80% or 0.45 points to end at 56.15 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 0.71% or 0.09 points to 12.52.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 68 to 39 and 15 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.49% or 6.60 to $1351.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.23% or 0.14 to hit $60.74 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.57% or 0.37 to trade at $63.99 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.11% to 1.2464, while EUR/GBP fell 0.19% to 0.8879.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 88.82.