Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.57% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 4.24% or 1.06 points to trade at 26.06 at the close. ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) added 3.38% or 0.342 points to end at 10.454 and Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) was up 3.38% or 2.12 points to 64.75 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 3.57% or 0.66 points to trade at 17.84 in late trade. UCB (BR:UCB) declined 2.02% or 1.56 points to end at 75.84 and Etablissementen Franz Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) shed 0.92% or 0.58 points to 62.34.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 77 to 33 and 15 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.74% or 9.55 to $1282.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.88% or 1.50 to hit $53.57 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.24% or 1.37 to trade at $62.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.32% to 1.1359, while EUR/GBP rose 0.43% to 0.8809.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 96.018.