Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.14%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 1.80% or 1.100 points to trade at 62.200 at the close. Meanwhile, UCB (BR:UCB) added 1.00% or 0.63 points to end at 63.60 and Ageas (BR:AGES) was up 0.99% or 0.395 points to 40.395 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which fell 0.92% or 0.26 points to trade at 27.48 at the close. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) declined 0.88% or 0.46 points to end at 51.70 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) was down 0.78% or 0.09 points to 11.40.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 58 to 49 and 13 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ageas (BR:AGES) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 0.99% or 0.395 to 40.395.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.92% or 11.05 to $1186.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.18% or 1.15 to hit $53.90 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.31% or 1.27 to trade at $56.35 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.70% to 1.0676, while EUR/GBP fell 0.26% to 0.8484.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.66% at 100.57.