Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Industrials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 fell 6.40% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR), which fell 0.37% or 0.18 points to trade at 49.45 at the close. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) fell 0.79% or 0.37 points to end at 46.55 and UCB (BR:UCB) was down 0.86% or 0.56 points to 64.72 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ING Groep NV (AS:ING), which lost 14.94% or 1.640 points to trade at 9.335 in late trade. KBC (BR:KBC) declined 13.88% or 7.300 points to end at 45.300 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 8.24% or 1.21 points to 13.47.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 133 to 17 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 4.67% or 58.95 to $1322.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.67% or 2.34 to hit $47.77 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 4.75% or 2.42 to trade at $48.49 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 2.46% to 1.1103, while EUR/GBP rose 6.86% to 0.8176.
The US Dollar Index was up 2.55% at 95.71.