Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 2.91%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (BRU:SOLB), which rose 4.08% or 4.15 points to trade at 105.90 at the close. Meanwhile, KBC (BRU:KBC) added 3.98% or 2.260 points to end at 59.110 and UCB (BRU:UCB) was up 3.96% or 2.58 points to 67.76 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were bpost NV (BRU:BPOST), which rose 0.58% or 0.12 points to trade at 21.68 at the close. Ageas (BRU:AGES) added 0.84% or 0.295 points to end at 35.315 and Befimmo-Sicafi (BRU:BEFBb) was up 0.93% or 0.510 points to 55.340.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 146 to 24 and 5 ended unchanged.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.22% or 2.50 to $1122.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 8.60% or 3.32 to hit $41.92 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 7.75% or 3.35 to trade at $46.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.94% to 1.1208, while EUR/GBP fell 0.53% to 0.7278.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.75% at 96.01.