Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.80% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which rose 5.21% or 5.40 points to trade at 109.10 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 4.02% or 0.54 points to end at 13.86 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 2.95% or 2.310 points to 80.630 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aperam (AS:APAM), which lost 0.95% or 0.43 points to trade at 45.47 in late trade. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) declined 0.65% or 0.36 points to end at 54.61 and NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) shed 0.47% or 0.21 points to 44.81.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 62 to 52 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.24% or 15.47 to $1233.03 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 4.10% or 1.96 to hit $45.86 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 3.92% or 1.99 to trade at $48.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.84% to 1.0977, while EUR/GBP rose 0.45% to 0.8498.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 98.64.