Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Food Producers, Utilities and Pharma & Bio-technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.89%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were bpost NV (BRU:BPOST), which rose 0.44% or 0.11 points to trade at 24.83 at the close. Befimmo-Sicafi (BRU:BEFBb) added 0.33% or 0.180 points to end at 54.690 and Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BRU:COFB) was up 0.28% or 0.26 points to 94.06 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UCB (BRU:UCB), which lost 1.63% or 1.09 points to trade at 65.58 in late trade. GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) declined 1.53% or 0.26 points to end at 16.71 and Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BRU:ABI) shed 1.19% or 1.30 points to 108.25.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 116 to 47 and 6 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.35% or 4.10 to $1167.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.39% or 1.36 to hit $55.57 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 2.68% or 1.67 to trade at $60.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.19% to 1.1105, while EUR/GBP rose 0.38% to 0.7128.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 96.17.