Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 0.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were ING Groep NV (AS:INGA), which rose 1.17% or 0.180 points to trade at 15.605 at the close. Ageas (BR:AGES) added 0.64% or 0.235 points to end at 37.050 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 0.36% or 0.240 points to 67.730 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 2.85% or 1.930 points to trade at 65.790 in late trade. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) declined 1.66% or 1.43 points to end at 84.64 and Umicore NV (BR:UMI) shed 1.61% or 0.99 points to 60.66.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 84 to 31 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.16% or 1.95 to $1223.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.37% or 1.07 to hit $46.20 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 2.11% or 1.01 to trade at $48.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.55% to 1.1413, while EUR/GBP rose 0.32% to 0.8805.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.35% at 95.63.