Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Telecoms and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.24% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 3.74% or 2.32 points to trade at 64.33 at the close. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) added 1.31% or 0.36 points to end at 27.82 and Ageas (BR:AGES) was up 0.81% or 0.310 points to 38.750 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which lost 0.95% or 0.51 points to trade at 53.41 in late trade. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) declined 0.80% or 0.31 points to end at 38.58 and Elia (BR:ELI) shed 0.76% or 0.375 points to 48.875.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 63 to 50 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.44% or 5.15 to $1167.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.26% or 0.66 to hit $52.99 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.17% or 0.65 to trade at $56.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.72% to 1.0481, while EUR/GBP fell 0.02% to 0.8501.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.69% at 102.53.