Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Chemicals and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 1.06% to hit a new 3-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore (D) (BRU:UMI), which rose 5.34% or 2.11 points to trade at 41.62 at the close. Telenet Group (BRU:TNET) added 2.17% or 1.14 points to end at 53.60 and Belgacom (BRU:BCOM) was up 2.12% or 0.70 points to 33.79 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bekaert (D) (BRU:BEKB), which lost 1.10% or 0.28 points to trade at 25.21 in late trade. Elia (BRU:ELI) declined 0.27% or 0.110 points to end at 39.935 and Ageas (BRU:AGES) gained 0.04% or 0.015 points to 34.520.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 111 to 56 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.65% or 7.80 to $1195.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.55% or 0.78 to hit $51.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.76% or 1.53 to trade at $57.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.15% to 1.0656, while EUR/GBP fell 0.15% to 0.7239.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.99% at 99.23.