Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.77%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 3.95% or 1.845 points to trade at 48.595 at the close. KBC (BR:KBC) added 1.66% or 0.755 points to end at 46.195 and NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) was up 1.57% or 0.62 points to 40.16 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UCB (BR:UCB), which lost 0.29% or 0.20 points to trade at 68.98 in late trade. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) declined 0.13% or 0.12 points to end at 90.60 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) shed 0.05% or 0.01 points to 30.90.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 97 to 39 and 17 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.28% or 3.80 to $1368.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 2.30% or 0.94 to hit $41.77 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 2.04% or 0.88 to trade at $43.98 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.13% to 1.1134, while EUR/GBP rose 1.39% to 0.8484.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.20% at 95.68.