Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Beverage and Travel & Leisure sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Sofina (EBR:SOF), which rose 3.32% or 7.20 points to trade at 224.20 at the close. Cofinimmo SA (EBR:COFB) added 2.98% or 1.70 points to end at 58.70 and UCB SA (EBR:UCB) was up 2.93% or 3.85 points to 135.25 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore SA (EBR:UMI), which lost 7.53% or 1.23 points to trade at 15.11 in late trade. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) declined 1.64% or 0.40 points to end at 24.00 and Aperam SA (AS:APAM) shed 0.72% or 0.18 points to 24.80.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 67 to 24 and 15 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.03% or 23.95 to $2,350.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.53% or 0.41 to hit $78.31 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.44 to trade at $82.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.99% to 1.08, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.17% to 0.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.22% at 103.92.