Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 1.97% or 0.90 points to trade at 46.58 at the close. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 1.57% or 1.38 points to end at 89.39 and NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) was up 1.36% or 0.54 points to 39.74 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 2.01% or 1.050 points to trade at 51.220 in late trade. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 0.53% or 0.15 points to end at 29.16 and Delhaize Group (BR:DELB) shed 0.51% or 0.49 points to 95.94.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 79 to 59 and 14 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.37% or 4.65 to $1247.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.95% or 0.95 to hit $49.57 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.65% or 0.82 to trade at $50.46 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.12% to 1.1353, while EUR/GBP rose 0.38% to 0.7859.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.16% at 94.05.