Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Consumer Goods, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 fell 0.79% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 0.77% or 0.16 points to trade at 21.06 at the close. KBC (BR:KBC) added 0.66% or 0.460 points to end at 70.440 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 0.48% or 0.09 points to 18.98 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which lost 2.52% or 1.16 points to trade at 44.79 in late trade. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) declined 2.03% or 1.81 points to end at 87.28 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) shed 1.71% or 1.95 points to 112.35.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 78 to 39 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.59% or 21.10 to $1348.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.68% or 1.08 to hit $65.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 1.01 to trade at $69.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.48% to 1.2361, while EUR/GBP rose 0.09% to 0.8735.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.46% at 89.06.