Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 fell 0.99%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AS:AD), which rose 1.28% or 0.24 points to trade at 19.43 at the close. NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 1.24% or 0.48 points to end at 39.48 and Proximus NV (BR:PROX) was up 0.30% or 0.08 points to 26.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR), which lost 9.39% or 4.67 points to trade at 45.12 in late trade. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) declined 2.25% or 0.58 points to end at 25.23 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) shed 1.75% or 0.39 points to 21.66.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 68 to 47 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.57% or 6.55 to $1165.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.47% or 0.78 to hit $52.20 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.06% or 0.59 to trade at $55.13 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.31% to 1.0657, while EUR/GBP fell 0.08% to 0.8387.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.23% at 100.85.