Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.88%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 3.20% or 0.70 points to trade at 22.60 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 2.07% or 0.29 points to end at 14.54 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 1.97% or 1.600 points to 82.680 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which lost 0.39% or 0.16 points to trade at 40.99 in late trade. Telenet Group (BR:TNET) declined 0.33% or 0.16 points to end at 47.94 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) shed 0.23% or 0.030 points to 13.280.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 71 to 52 and 18 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.12% or 1.50 to $1290.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.18% or 0.13 to hit $71.62 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.65 to trade at $79.93 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.1806, while EUR/GBP fell 0.25% to 0.8732.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 93.33.