Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.52%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were bpost NV (BR:BPOST), which rose 4.34% or 0.48 points to trade at 11.55 at the close. Umicore SA (BR:UMI) added 3.49% or 1.28 points to end at 37.96 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 2.10% or 1.98 points to 96.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which lost 2.52% or 0.66 points to trade at 25.50 in late trade. Argen-X (BR:ARGX) declined 2.15% or 1.80 points to end at 82.00 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) shed 1.15% or 0.126 points to 10.804.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 80 to 37 and 10 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.15% or 1.90 to $1231.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.84% or 1.43 to hit $51.72 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.95% or 1.15 to trade at $60.24 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.11% to 1.1379, while EUR/GBP rose 0.45% to 0.8903.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 96.760.