Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 1.36% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which rose 5.84% or 5.12 points to trade at 92.81 at the close. Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BR:ABI) added 4.58% or 5.05 points to end at 115.30 and Umicore NV (BR:UMI) was up 2.97% or 1.49 points to 51.74 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 2.37% or 1.180 points to trade at 48.710 in late trade. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 1.06% or 0.30 points to end at 27.91 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) shed 0.88% or 0.13 points to 14.72.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 79 to 62 and 5 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.14% or 15.35 to $1356.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.39% or 0.16 to hit $41.30 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $43.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.81% to 1.1167, while EUR/GBP rose 0.17% to 0.8430.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.15% at 95.58.