Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Industrials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.38% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were ING Groep NV (AS:INGA), which rose 3.13% or 0.500 points to trade at 16.460 at the close. KBC (BR:KBC) added 2.86% or 2.100 points to end at 75.500 and Sofina (BR:SOF) was up 1.76% or 2.40 points to 139.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 4.83% or 1.40 points to trade at 27.60 in late trade. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 1.65% or 0.46 points to end at 27.48 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) shed 1.17% or 1.40 points to 118.20.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 59 to 49 and 22 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.33% or 4.40 to $1318.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.60% or 0.38 to hit $63.34 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.18 to trade at $69.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.21% to 1.1961, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.8852.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 92.01.