Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Consumer Goods sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.51%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 1.85% or 0.98 points to trade at 53.88 at the close. Meanwhile, Telenet Group (BR:TNET) added 1.49% or 0.73 points to end at 50.06 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) was up 1.15% or 0.12 points to 11.01 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB), which fell 1.32% or 1.40 points to trade at 104.50 at the close. Proximus NV (BR:PROX) declined 1.05% or 0.28 points to end at 26.47 and Ageas (BR:AGES) was down 0.99% or 0.395 points to 39.410.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 59 to 52 and 10 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.85% or 10.25 to $1218.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $53.85 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.10 to trade at $56.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.26% to 1.0797, while EUR/GBP rose 1.20% to 0.8609.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 99.56.