Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Software & Computers, Telecoms and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 1.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BRU:BEKB), which fell 0.08% or 0.02 points to trade at 26.07 at the close. Solvay (BRU:SOLB) fell 0.33% or 0.40 points to end at 122.05 and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BRU:GBLB) was down 0.58% or 0.43 points to 74.06 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore NV (BRU:UMI), which lost 1.98% or 0.88 points to trade at 43.65 in late trade. KBC (BRU:KBC) declined 1.89% or 1.140 points to end at 59.080 and Belgacom (BRU:BCOM) shed 1.77% or 0.56 points to 31.44.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 132 to 39 and 6 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.59% or 6.90 to $1168.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $57.97 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.12 to trade at $61.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.13% to 1.1112, while EUR/GBP fell 0.50% to 0.7278.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.01% at 96.45.