Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 fell 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were KBC (BR:KBC), which rose 1.39% or 0.630 points to trade at 45.965 at the close. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 0.98% or 0.35 points to end at 36.05 and UCB (BR:UCB) was up 0.85% or 0.57 points to 67.81 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which lost 3.50% or 1.53 points to trade at 42.22 in late trade. ING Groep NV (AS:ING) declined 2.07% or 0.220 points to end at 10.410 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 1.58% or 0.21 points to 13.43.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 76 to 71 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 1.51% or 18.70 to $1216.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.70% or 1.42 to hit $36.92 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 3.89% or 1.57 to trade at $38.76 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.11% to 1.1393, while EUR/GBP rose 1.11% to 0.8013.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.04% at 94.61.