Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.23%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 2.42% or 1.09 points to trade at 46.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 1.89% or 0.54 points to end at 29.18 and UCB (BR:UCB) was up 1.72% or 1.13 points to 66.85 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which fell 1.02% or 0.520 points to trade at 50.650 at the close. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 0.46% or 0.14 points to end at 29.34 and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) was down 0.43% or 0.33 points to 75.98.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 84 to 59 and 11 ended unchanged.
Gold for August delivery was up 0.02% or 0.30 to $1215.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.37% or 0.18 to hit $49.19 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.68% or 0.34 to trade at $50.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.33% to 1.1152, while EUR/GBP fell 0.37% to 0.7734.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.10% at 95.52.