Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which rose 2.16% or 0.74 points to trade at 35.16 at the close. ING Groep NV (AS:ING) added 2.07% or 0.210 points to end at 10.370 and Umicore NV (BR:UMI) was up 1.76% or 0.77 points to 44.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which lost 3.47% or 1.04 points to trade at 28.91 in late trade. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 1.09% or 0.27 points to end at 24.43 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) shed 1.00% or 0.390 points to 38.770.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 80 to 65 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.24% or 15.40 to $1259.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.04% or 0.81 to hit $40.53 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 2.19% or 0.92 to trade at $42.86 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.09% to 1.1412, while EUR/GBP fell 0.80% to 0.8013.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.27% at 93.97.