Belgium shares higher at close of trade; BEL 20 up 0.73%

Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrials, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Azelis Corporate Services NV (EBR:AZE), which rose 6.32% or 1.15 points to trade at 19.35 at the close. Umicore SA (EBR:UMI) added 3.88% or 0.42 points to end at 11.25 and Groep Brussel Lambert NV (EBR:GBLB) was up 1.98% or 1.30 points to 66.80 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Solvay SA (EBR:SOLB), which lost 3.41% or 1.19 points to trade at 33.73 in late trade. Lotus Bakeries (EBR:LOTB) declined 1.95% or 240.00 points to end at 12,060.00 and Argen-X (EBR:ARGX) shed 0.72% or 4.00 points to 549.20.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 63 to 31 and 11 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.97% or 25.90 to $2,702.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.47% or 0.34 to hit $72.03 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.41 to trade at $75.33 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.57% to 1.08, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.19% to 0.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.59% at 104.37.