Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.53%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which rose 4.03% or 1.91 points to trade at 49.29 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 3.00% or 0.70 points to end at 24.00 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 2.08% or 0.31 points to 15.21 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telenet Group (BR:TNET), which lost 1.21% or 0.54 points to trade at 44.00 in late trade. Sofina (BR:SOF) declined 0.82% or 1.20 points to end at 144.60 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 0.11% or 0.01 points to 13.72.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 83 to 39 and 16 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.24% or 3.10 to $1302.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 2.40% or 1.60 to hit $68.33 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 2.62% or 1.98 to trade at $77.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.06% to 1.1658, while EUR/GBP rose 0.79% to 0.8776.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.78% at 94.07.