Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.10%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore NV (BR:UMI), which rose 3.78% or 1.61 points to trade at 44.37 at the close. Meanwhile, NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 3.36% or 1.17 points to end at 35.95 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 3.21% or 2.79 points to 89.66 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were UCB (BR:UCB), which fell 1.34% or 0.92 points to trade at 67.75 at the close. Elia (BR:ELI) declined 0.16% or 0.070 points to end at 43.895 and Telenet Group (BR:TNET) was down 0.09% or 0.04 points to 45.26.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 107 to 39 and 7 ended unchanged.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.69% or 8.50 to $1229.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.18% or 0.45 to hit $38.73 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.41% or 0.56 to trade at $40.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.25% to 1.1322, while EUR/GBP rose 0.17% to 0.7873.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 94.88.