Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.02% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BR:ABI), which rose 1.77% or 1.95 points to trade at 112.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 1.19% or 1.04 points to end at 88.76 and Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) was up 0.66% or 0.34 points to 51.67 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB), which fell 3.49% or 4.10 points to trade at 113.50 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) declined 1.38% or 0.39 points to end at 27.80 and KBC (BR:KBC) was down 1.22% or 0.595 points to 48.045.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 78 to 63 and 9 ended unchanged.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.67% or 8.20 to $1234.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.13% or 1.30 to hit $40.20 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 2.62% or 1.15 to trade at $42.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.28% to 1.1296, while EUR/GBP fell 0.20% to 0.7943.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.33% at 94.63.