Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 1.80% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which rose 5.21% or 5.40 points to trade at 109.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 4.02% or 0.54 points to end at 13.86 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 2.95% or 2.310 points to 80.630 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Aperam (AS:APAM), which fell 0.95% or 0.43 points to trade at 45.47 at the close. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) declined 0.65% or 0.36 points to end at 54.61 and NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) was down 0.47% or 0.21 points to 44.81.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 62 to 52 and 13 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.23% or 15.39 to $1233.11 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 4.08% or 1.95 to hit $45.87 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 3.88% or 1.97 to trade at $48.82 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.84% to 1.0977, while EUR/GBP rose 0.46% to 0.8499.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 98.64.