Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which rose 2.83% or 1.09 points to trade at 39.78 at the close. Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BR:ABI) added 2.60% or 2.95 points to end at 116.20 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) was up 2.58% or 0.35 points to 13.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UCB (BR:UCB), which lost 0.52% or 0.38 points to trade at 72.24 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) added 0.17% or 0.04 points to end at 23.92 and KBC (BR:KBC) gained 0.57% or 0.310 points to 54.530.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 110 to 45 and 9 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.09% or 14.55 to $1345.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 2.38% or 1.08 to hit $46.42 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.84% or 0.86 to trade at $47.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.32% to 1.1226, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00% to 0.8585.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 95.17.