Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Software & Computers, Beverage and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BRU:BEKB), which rose 1.25% or 0.32 points to trade at 25.59 at the close. Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BRU:ABI) added 1.17% or 1.25 points to end at 108.40 and Umicore NV (BRU:UMI) was up 0.88% or 0.38 points to 42.81 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telenet Group (BRU:TNET), which lost 1.57% or 0.77 points to trade at 47.81 in late trade. Befimmo-Sicafi (BRU:BEFBb) declined 1.20% or 0.660 points to end at 54.330 and DIeteren SA (BRU:IETB) shed 1.13% or 0.380 points to 33.150.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 96 to 74 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.07% or 0.80 to $1202.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.96% or 1.19 to hit $59.63 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 2.42% or 1.55 to trade at $62.70 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1336, while EUR/GBP fell 0.15% to 0.7144.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.24% at 94.43.