Investing.com – Belgium stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.16%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 1.23% or 0.790 points to trade at 64.780 at the close. Meanwhile, Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 0.98% or 1.10 points to end at 113.65 and KBC (BR:KBC) was up 0.87% or 0.510 points to 59.260 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ageas (BR:AGES), which fell 5.88% or 2.350 points to trade at 37.635 at the close. Umicore NV (BR:UMI) declined 2.04% or 1.03 points to end at 49.76 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was down 0.81% or 0.23 points to 28.02.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 60 to 51 and 14 ended unchanged.
Shares in Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 0.98% or 1.10 to 113.65.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.66% or 8.05 to $1233.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.26% or 0.14 to hit $53.06 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.20 to trade at $55.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.22% to 1.0600, while EUR/GBP rose 0.35% to 0.8510.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 101.05.