Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Financials and Media sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AS:AD), which rose 5.92% or 1.16 points to trade at 20.68 at the close. Ageas (BR:AGES) added 2.15% or 0.830 points to end at 39.385 and Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) was up 1.29% or 0.58 points to 46.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 2.28% or 1.460 points to trade at 62.500 in late trade. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) declined 1.87% or 1.01 points to end at 53.12 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) shed 1.50% or 0.42 points to 28.00.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 65 to 47 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 1.16% or 14.05 to $1198.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.22% or 0.11 to hit $51.19 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.14 to trade at $54.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.08% to 1.0621, while EUR/GBP fell 0.45% to 0.8632.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 101.50.