Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.03%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 4.64% or 1.93 points to trade at 43.44 at the close. Meanwhile, Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 2.39% or 1.96 points to end at 83.98 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 2.00% or 0.910 points to 46.405 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB), which fell 0.30% or 0.35 points to trade at 116.20 at the close. Elia (BR:ELI) declined 0.29% or 0.130 points to end at 45.165 and Delhaize Group (BR:DELB) was down 0.28% or 0.26 points to 93.26.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 89 to 51 and 10 ended unchanged.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.32% or 3.90 to $1241.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 6.20% or 2.31 to hit $39.57 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 6.01% or 2.37 to trade at $41.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.23% to 1.1404, while EUR/GBP fell 0.15% to 0.8083.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 94.24.