Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Food Producers, Software & Computers and Construction and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BRU:UCB), which rose 1.29% or 0.87 points to trade at 68.49 at the close. Colruyt (D) (BRU:COLR) added 1.18% or 0.47 points to end at 40.16 and Solvay (BRU:SOLB) was up 0.71% or 0.95 points to 134.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bekaert (D) (BRU:BEKB), which lost 1.38% or 0.35 points to trade at 25.35 in late trade. Telenet Group (BRU:TNET) declined 1.36% or 0.69 points to end at 49.96 and D'Ieteren (D) (BRU:IETB) shed 1.32% or 0.435 points to 32.460.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 98 to 68 and 7 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.42% or 5.10 to $1199.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.90% or 1.49 to hit $49.94 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.46% or 1.46 to trade at $57.73 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.31% to 1.0918, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00% to 0.7330.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 97.44.