Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Financials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.83% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which rose 5.86% or 5.81 points to trade at 105.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Umicore NV (BR:UMI) added 2.36% or 1.55 points to end at 67.19 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 1.72% or 0.40 points to 23.35 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which fell 6.20% or 1.96 points to trade at 29.63 at the close. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) declined 0.93% or 1.15 points to end at 122.60 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was down 0.69% or 0.490 points to 70.110.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 54 to 53 and 13 ended unchanged.
Shares in Umicore NV (BR:UMI) rose to all time highs; rising 2.36% or 1.55 to 67.19.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.55% or 6.92 to $1256.32 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.62% or 0.30 to hit $49.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.94% or 0.48 to trade at $51.45 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.70% to 1.1653, while EUR/GBP fell 0.26% to 0.8922.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.69% at 93.93.