Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.63% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which rose 4.35% or 1.08 points to trade at 25.89 at the close. Meanwhile, UCB (BR:UCB) added 3.55% or 2.60 points to end at 75.74 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) was up 3.28% or 1.19 points to 37.49 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Telenet Group Holding NV (BR:TNET), which fell 1.94% or 0.82 points to trade at 41.38 at the close. bpost NV (BR:BPOST) declined 1.33% or 0.10 points to end at 7.78 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) was down 1.19% or 0.118 points to 9.821.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 74 to 42 and 12 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.24% or 3.15 to $1289.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 4.62% or 2.30 to hit $52.08 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 4.09% or 2.40 to trade at $61.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.73% to 1.1524, while EUR/GBP rose 0.46% to 0.9033.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.56% at 94.942.